This Saturday May 12 the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) will be hosting the 26thannual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. Culver City Real Estate area residents, along with U.S. citizens in other areas, can take part in this effort to end hunger by leaving bags of food by their mailboxes.
According to the NALC website, “The Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive is held annually on the second Saturday in May, a time of year when food bank stocks are dwindling—and it’s just before many school systems end their years, which can often mean a suspension in subsidized meals for many students.”
Martin Feinberg, one of the local real estate listing agents, was interested to learn that local NACL branches had collected food for the needy as party of their ongoing community service for years, but it wasn’t until 1991 that discussions began concerning a national food drive.
“A national, coordinated effort by the NALC to help fight hunger in America grew out of discussions in 1991 by a number of leaders at the time, including NALC President Vincent R. Sombrotto, AFL-CIO Community Services Director Joseph Velasquez and Postmaster General Anthony Frank. A pilot drive was held in 10 cities in October of 1991, and it proved so successful that work began immediately on making it a nationwide effort.”
The annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive is the largest one-day drive in the United States. It will take place in over 10,000 cities and towns across the country. Though the majority of letter carriers will take part in the drive, participation is strictly voluntary.
For those Culver City citizens who wish to take part in the food drive, the NACL states that they should “leave bags of non-perishable food by their mailboxes well before the time their letter carriers make their normal mail pick-up and delivery.”
Martin Feinberg, Realtor, notes that all donated food will then be delivered to local food banks and that all donations stay local. Those wishing to learn more about the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive should visit stampoutfooddrive.us.