Stamp Out Hunger food drive returns Saturday

Nathan Havenner, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
·3 min read

May 12—For the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive returns Saturday in Owensboro.

Organized by the National Association of Letter Carriers, Stamp Out Hunger invites area residents to leave canned goods and nonperishable food items on their front porch for collection by their mail carriers. Items can also be dropped off at local post offices.

Daniel Gilliam-Veach, a committee member of the food drive and local postal clerk, said the 2019 edition of the event proved to be one of the most successful in the event's history in Owensboro.

"This is a nationwide event," he said. "It is the largest single day food drive in the country."

Gilliam-Veach said seven nonprofit organizations that serve as food pantries and soup kitchens are chosen each year to benefit from the food drive.

The 2022 recipients are The Salvation Army, Feed a Friend Inc., Oasis Women's Shelter, Church Alive, Third Baptist Church, CrossRoads Inc. and King's Table.

Gilliam-Veach said each organization benefitting from Stamp Out Hunger is required to provide volunteers to organize and distribute the donations.

Lisa Mourning, of King's Table, 2804 Veach Road, said the nonprofit food pantry has been selected to receive food collected from the drive about seven times.

"It means everything," she said. "We are a food pantry that is not necessarily open to the public. It is not a walk-up food pantry. We deliver to seniors and shut-ins."

Mourning said she works with local housing authorities, churches and individuals to provide nonperishable food items to local seniors in need.

"As COVID-19 hit, donations decreased, money got tight, but the seniors still needed to eat," Mourning said.

King's Table tries to provide some supplemental food for seniors in need to help them stretch their food budget a little further.

Mourning said volunteering for Stamp Out Hunger is like "reverse shopping."

After the food is brought in by the mail carriers and other delivery drivers, it is sorted and placed into individual bins by volunteers who have gathered at Third Baptist Church, 527 Allen St.

"They weigh them, and then each one of those bins goes to a number that is set off to the side in a designated area, and at the end of the day each of the organizations benefitting draws a number, and they will get one of those stacks of food," Mourning said. "The Last time this happened, we received several thousand pounds, and several thousands pounds of food is so helpful."

"We look forward to the day when no one in the country worries about feeding themselves or their families, but until then, letter carriers will lend a hand to bring food to their tables," NALC President Fredric Rolando said.

In addition to the Postal Service, NALC has partnered with several other groups for the drive: the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, Valpak, United Way Worldwide, CVS Health, the AFL-CIO, the Kellogg Co. and Valassis, a subsidiary of Vericast.

Anyone who would like to volunteer for Stamp Out Hunger can do so at Third Baptist Church. Lunch and snacks will be provided.

For more information about Stamp Out Hunger, visit www.nalc.org/community-service/food-drive.