Letter carriers collect food May 10
On May 10, letter carriers from all over Green Country will be working to stamp out hunger as part of the National Association of Letter Carriers’ 16th annual food drive.
The Stamp Out Hunger! food drive is the nation’s largest single-day food drive, collecting more than 765 million pounds of food since its inception in 1993.
To help Stamp Out Hunger! in Green Country this year, simply leave a sturdy bag containing non-perishable food next to your mailbox prior to the time of regular mail delivery on May 10. Many letter carriers will be delivering paper sacks donated by Reasor’s a few days before the event that you can use. Most needed items include canned soups, vegetables, tuna or chicken, stews, dry milk, pasta, rice and cereal. Food items should be in non-breakable containers, such as boxes and cans. Local letter carriers will then collect donations from homes across the city and deliver them to the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma or one of 205 emergency food pantries in Eastern Oklahoma.
For customers who forget to put their food by their mailbox in time, the R.W. Jenkins Post Office, located at 6910 S. Yorktown Ave., will serve as a drop-off location for any wishing to donate in person.
Last year over 265,000 pounds of food was donated in Green Country, 127,000 of that went to the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, a private, non-profit agency that works to eliminate food insecurity and hunger through education, advocacy and the distribution of food and other essentials. The Food Bank distributes over nine million pounds of food annually to more than 440 Partner Programs in 24 counties of Eastern Oklahoma, providing enough food to feed 50,000 people weekly.
Unfortunately, the need for such food is great in Oklahoma. According to the most recent USDA report, Oklahoma ranks third in the nation in the number of people per capita living in food insecure households and fifth in the nation in the number of people who are hungry. One in five Oklahoma children lives in poverty and is at risk of going to bed hungry.