The 2023 Stamp Out Hunger national food drive run by U.S. Postal Service employees is nearing, with the collection day set for Saturday, May 13.
The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) sponsors the annual food drive, which asks residents to donate canned goods and other nonperishable food items, leaving them by their mailboxes so letter carriers can collect them along their routes.
The NALC distributes the food to charitable organizations like food pantries to be given to those in need.
“It’s nationwide, done on the same day,” said Festus letter carrier Patrick Henderson. “It’s basically the biggest food drive in the nation every year.”
Henderson said some of the participating post offices distribute bags ahead of the collection date for people to use for their donations during the week leading up to the May 13 collection day, and others just distribute cards notifying patrons about the food drive. People who want to donate may use bags the letter carriers left or any other bags they have on hand. He said Festus letter carriers collected about 12,000 pounds of food during last year’s drive.
“I’m hoping, especially with the way the economy is, we can do more this year,” said Henderson, vice president of NALC Branch 4050, which represents the Festus, Crystal City, Herculaneum, De Soto, Pevely, Hillsboro and Potosi post offices.
He said food collected during the drive is distributed to people from the same communities where it was donated.
“The food goes to local families,” Henderson said. “Carriers bring the food back to the post office and post office volunteers separate the food. We divide it among the food pantries in our area.”
Gary Ozark of the Ozark Food Pantry in Festus said he greatly appreciates the yearly Stamp Out Hunger food donation. “It helps immensely,” he said. “It helps us provide for what people need. More and more people are relying on us due to inflation. This helps us help them.
“We sure want to thank the letter carriers and let them know we appreciate them.”
Fenton-High Ridge
Steven Powers, union representative for letter carriers who serve postal patrons in the Fenton and High Ridge areas, said Stamp Out Hunger is a labor of love for those involved in the effort.
“I do want to point out how this food drive is dear to the heart of each member of Branch 343 of the (NALC), and we eagerly anticipate this event each year,” he said. “I honestly cannot say enough about the level of dedication and involvement demonstrated by our members every year during this drive.”
Powers said the Fenton and High Ridge letter carriers have collected tons and tons of food over the past several years, with 24,005 pounds collected in 2016, 22,300 pounds in 2017, 21,170 pounds in 2018, 16,570 pounds in 2019 and 15,436 pounds in 2022. No drives were held in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have high hopes this year’s drive will be a success and aid our food pantries in serving those in need within our community,” he said.
The donations of food help tremendously, said Mary Hettenhausen of Feed My People in High Ridge. “In our northwest Jefferson County area, it is one of the biggest, most-responsive donations for this area,” Hettenhausen said.
“We get a good, healthy response from this. It comes at a time when kids are about to be off school and families are more desperate for food products because kids aren’t getting food at school (during summer break).”
Arnold
Julie Elfrink, shop steward for the Arnold-area letter carriers, said the Stamp Out Hunger campaign is a natural fit for letter carriers. “It helps the community,” she said. “Since we go to every address to drop off mail, it makes sense to do this for the community.”
Elfrink said the Arnold community has been generous during past Stamp Out Hunger food collections.
“We collect for the Arnold Food Pantry,” she said.
Elfrink said she did not know how much food Arnold letter carriers collected in years past, but noted it has been significant and she predicts this year’s campaign once again will be successful.
“We have approximately 15,000 addresses to deliver to from our post office,” Elfrink said. “If we can pick up even one bag of food from each address, you can imagine how much food there will be for the Arnold Food Pantry.”
Ed Fitzhenry, executive director of the Arnold Food Pantry, said the Stamp Out Hunger campaign is held at a great time for his pantry.
“It’s one of the more significant food drives we benefit from,” Fitzhenry said. “An important factor is the timing of the food drive. Many of the food drives for us happen in the holiday season, but the food supply dwindles as the year goes on. (Stamp Out Hunger) is great timing.”
For more information, visit the Stamp Out Hunger page on Facebook.