Letter Carriers Gear Up To Stamp Out Hunger! Nation’s Largest One-Day Food Drive Helps Increasing Number Of Americans Struggling With Hunger (NAPSA)—On Saturday, May 9, Campbell Soup Companywill join forces with the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) for their 17th annual Stamp Out Hunger! food drive—benefiting the one in eight Americans who struggle with hunger. The Stamp Out Hunger! effort is the nation’s largest single-day food drive, having collected more than 909 million pounds of food since its inception in 1993. Last year, letter carriers across the country collected a record total of more than 73.1 million pounds of food, but with hunger striking many needy Americans recently— including working families, children and the elderly—help is needed now more thaneverbefore. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 36.2 million Americans live in food-insecure households and approximately one in every three are children. Additionally, a recent survey conducted by Feeding America (formerly America’s Second Harvest—The Nation’s Food Bank Network) of its food bank members reported a 30 percent increase in requests for emergency food assistance. The most prominent contributors to increases in demand included rising cost of food, increasing unemployment and underemployment, the cost of fuel and mortgage/rentcosts. Food banksare also notoriously bare during summer months, as most food drives are conducted around the holidays and those donated goods are distributed by the spring. Summer donations are even more critical since many hungry children no longer have iti iLLLe the benefit of their school lunch program. To help Stamp Out Hunger!, simply leave a sturdy bag containing nonperishable foods, such as canned soup, canned vegetables, pasta, rice or cereal, next to your mailbox prior to the time of regular mail delivery on May 9. Food items should be in nonbreakable contain- ers, such as boxes and cans. The nation’s 230,000 letter carriers will do the rest—collecting donations from homes across the country and delivering them to food bank members of Feeding America and other hungerrelief organizations in more than 10,000 local communities. As part of its support for the drive, Campbell will donate 1 million pounds of food to food banks across the country and is sponsor- ing a reminder postcard mailing sent to 120 million homes. For more information about the Stamp Out Hunger! effort in your community, ask yourletter carrier, contact your local post office or visit www.helpstampouthunger.com.
