Tons Of Food Collected During Annual ‘Stamp Out Hunger’ Drive

May 10, 2015

Saturday was the annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive, with letter carriers in Escambia County collecting tons and tons of food to benefit local groups like the Manna Food Pantries.

Manna Food Pantries received 71,532 pounds of food, with even more expected to trickle in next week. A total of 85 volunteers contributed 354 volunteer hours to help Manna sort the food.

Each year the National Association of Letter Carriers holds the “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive, where U.S. Postal Service employees pick up donations of non-perishable food along their routes. In its 23rd year, the annual food drive has grown to be the largest national single-day effort that benefits millions of Americans who struggle to put food on the table.

Escambia and Santa Rosa letter carriers collected food donations Saturday for local food banks including the Bay Area Food Bank and Manna Food Pantries. Last year, organizations received a total of 159,625 pounds of food from the community during the food drive. This year’s overall total for Escambia and Santa Rosa counties was not available Saturday night.

“This is a critical food drive because it comes at a time when donations are typically low and the need  has increased,” said DeDe Flounlacker, Manna Food Pantries’ executive director. “During the school year, many children get a healthy meal through the free or reduced breakfast and lunch programs. During the summer, those programs aren’t available. The generous donations from the community allow us to provide nutritious food to hungry families and children throughout the summer months.”

Pictured: Volunteers sort donated food Saturday at the Cantonment post office. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Comments

One Response to “Tons Of Food Collected During Annual ‘Stamp Out Hunger’ Drive”

  1. Gman on May 11th, 2015 12:05 pm

    Thanks for collecting US Postal Service and to all the volunteers. Sure it will go to good use.





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