This Saturday, May 11, Naperville residents are asked to place healthy, unexpired, non-perishable food items in bags by their mailboxes, as part of the 32nd annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.
Donations will then be picked up by postal carriers and Loaves & Fishes Community Services volunteers to support families that visit the pantry for grocery assistance.
Growth in the number of families Loaves & Fishes supports
On Thursday, Loaves & Fishes held a kick-off rally for the food drive at two United States Postal Service locations to speak to the carriers about the importance of the event.
“In the past two years, our numbers doubled in the number of families we serve at Loaves & Fishes,” said Melissa Luken, vice president of food operations at the pantry.
Currently, Loaves & Fishes supports over 9,000 people a week.
“People who serve others, that’s an honorable profession,” said Naperville Mayor Scott Wehrli to the volunteers and postal carriers at the kick-off rally.
At last year’s Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, the pantry collected over 60,000 pounds of food. Given the rise of pantry users, food prices, and the need for food in the community, the groups are looking to collect 100,000 pounds this year.
“We can’t wait to tally up those pounds of food on Saturday,” said Luken.
About the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive
The National Association of Letter Carriers created the food drive to help support community food banks. It takes place on the second Saturday of May every year in over 10,000 cities across all 50 states.
Naperville’s Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive is run by The National Association of Letter Carriers and the National Rural Letter Carriers Association, in partnership with Loaves & Fishes Community Services.
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