Shelter Island Post Offices poised food drive
The Center Post Office will be particpating in a national food drive Saturday.
The Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive in partnership with the United States Postal Service, Feeding America, and the United Way will be collecting contributions of food at local Post Offices in the Center and Heights on Saturday.The 23rd annual event typically has letter carriers picking up food at mail boxes where there is home delivery service. On Shelter Island, both the Center and Heights Post Offices will have bins to collect food contributions.
Nonperishable food is collected for distribution to food banks and pantries.
More than 49 million Americans, or one in six, are unsure where their next meal is coming from and 16 million of those are children, according to the Regional Postal Service Office.
Nearly 5 million seniors are “food insecure,” according to spokeswoman Christine Dugas. Many are too embarrassed to ask for help, she added.
The spring drive is considered crucial, Ms. Dugas said, because while many food pantries are stocked for holidays, by spring, they sometimes tend to be depleted.
The drive resulted in collecting more than 72 million pounds of food last year, helping to feed 30 million people.
During the history of the program, Stamp Out Hunger has collected more than one billion pounds of food.
