Little effort, lasting impact

Send hunger on its way this Saturday by donating non-perishable food items to the 26th annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.

Organized and facilitated by the National Association of Letter Carriers, Stamp out Hunger is the country's largest single-day food drive.

Contributing is simple. Just leave donations next to the mailbox before the mail is delivered. Letter carriers will collect donations that day as they deliver the mail on their normal routes.

"A small amount of effort would mean so much to so many people,” Coeur d'Alene Community Action Partnership Food Bank manager Darrell Rickard said Wednesday. "Usually, we get a quite a bit of food that really gives us a shot in the arm."

Those who contribute are encouraged to leave donations in sturdy bags or containers by their mailboxes. Nonperishable items include canned goods — soup, vegetables, meat and fish — as well as pasta, rice and cereal.

The Letter Carriers' food drive is held annually in May, a time of year when food bank shelves are sparse.

"We serve about 1,400 families a week. Many are working families but can't seem to make ends meet," Rickard said. "Many times by the end of the day, our shelves are bare. It's so important to get replenished."

The drive is conducted in 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam.

In 2017, letter carriers collected more than 75 million pounds of food, the third-highest amount since the drive began in 1993. That brings the total over the past quarter-century to 1.6 billion pounds.

"Over its first quarter-century, the food drive has only grown in importance and in impact," NALC President Fredric Rolando stated in a press release. "It's an honor to be able to help people in need all across the United States – and to do so in a way that brings out the best in so many Americans."

Info: www.stampout hungerfooddrive.us