Join the fight against hunger in Greater New Bedford by simply walking to your mailbox on Saturday, May 11. Join the National Association of Letter Carriers SE MA Merged Branch 18, the US Postal Service and United Way of Greater New Bedford for the 27th annual Letter Carriers’ Food Drive and help us Stamp Out Hunger!

“Last year, Stamp Out Hunger collected 21,000 lbs of food in just one day in Greater New Bedford,” said Victoria Grasela, Director of Marketing & Community Relations United Way of Greater New Bedford. “We’re hoping to surpass this number on May 11. United Way is a proud supporter of these efforts and encourages everyone to do what they can to help stock the shelves of local pantries.”

To participate in Stamp Out Hunger, leave a non-perishable food item or bag of items (every little bit helps!) by your mailbox or on your porch. Food will be collected by your letter carrier during your normal mail delivery. Non-perishable food may include: cereals, beans, rice, canned meats, tuna, soups, vegetables, peanut butter, jellies or jams, pasta, tomato sauces, pancake mix or juices. For safety reasons, we ask that no glass containers be donated to avoid breakage and that food has not expired.

Food collected by letter carriers throughout the day will be brought to local post offices where it is sorted and packed for food pantries to take back to stock their shelves. Pantries benefiting from Stamp Out Hunger locally include Catholic Social Services, The Family Pantry- Damien’s Place, M.O. Life Food Pantry, PACE, The Salvation Army, and Shepherd’s Pantry.

Since the beginning of the drive, nearly 1.3 billion pounds of food has been collected, 70 million pounds of that collected locally! Each year the drive collects between 40,000- 70,000 pounds of food for local pantries.

Through its Hunger Commission Network and partnership with the local postal workers union, United Way serves as a local convener for this effort.

Anyone interested in volunteering to assist letter carriers in collecting the food on their routes throughout Greater New Bedford during the course of the day may arrange to do so by calling Richard Drolet at 508-801-2881 by Thursday evening, May 9.

Be sure to join the effort on Saturday, May 11, and leave a non-perishable item or bag of items by your mailbox or on your porch and help us Stamp Out Hunger in Greater New Bedford!

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