SAN FRANCISCO, CA, May 12, 2011
/24-7PressRelease/ -- On Saturday, May 14, people from across the country will partner with their letter carriers to help "Stamp Out Hunger". Now in its 19th year, the Stamp Out Hunger letter carriers food drive is the largest, single day effort to combat hunger in America and the largest single day food drive for food banks in the Bay Area.
To participate, residents are asked to place a bag of non-perishable food items — like tuna, meats, peanut butter, stews, soup, vegetables, pasta, rice or cereal by their mailbox before their mail is delivered on Saturday, May 14. Letter carriers will collect the food items and deliver them back to the local food bank to then be distributed to the community to help those at risk of hunger.
Last year, locally, the Stamp Out Hunger letter carriers food drive collected more than one million pounds of food for those in need in throughout the Bay Area. Nationally, letter carriers across the country collected a record breaking total of 77.1 million pounds of food. Since its inception in 1992, the Stamp Out Hunger letter carriers food drive has stocked more than one billion pounds of non-perishable items on food bank shelves across the country. One billion pounds of food is enough to feed each California resident three meals a day for a week.
Despite the generosity of millions of Americans who have supported the food drive, the need for food assistance has never been greater. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's annual study measuring food security in the United States, the number of Americans living in food insecure homes reached more than 50 million in 2009, with approximately one in every three food insecure Americans being a child.
"Hunger in our community continues to be a growing problem, but it's a problem that we can do something about. By supporting the Stamp Out Hunger letter carriers food drive this Saturday, May 14, we can get food to those who need it the most," said Paul Ash, Executive Director of the San Francisco Food Bank.
Members of the media are encouraged to visit the San Francisco Food Bank warehouse at 900 Pennsylvania Avenue in San Francisco on Saturday, May 14 from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. to see the donations arrive from the Stamp Out Hunger letter carriers food drive and to meet with San Francisco Food Bank employees, postal carriers and volunteers.
Learn More About the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive: http://www.helpstampouthunger.com/
About San Francisco Food Bank and Marin Food Bank
Hunger is a serious problem in our community - with 1 in 5 children and 1 in 5 adults at risk of hunger in San Francisco and Marin. Every day, the Food Banks source, collect, sort, inspect and repackage thousands of pounds of food, then distributes it to soup kitchens, neighborhood grocery centers, school programs and seniors in need.
The San Francisco Food Bank and the Marin Food Bank combined serve over 200,000 people per year, and will distribute 43.5 million pounds of food to the community this year - enough for at least 93,000 meals every day. 60% of what is distributed is fresh fruits and vegetables. For more information, visit http://www.SFFoodBank.org
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