What:

The U.S. Postal Service and National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) will hold an event to kick off the 27th Annual ‘Stamp Out Hunger’ Food Drive.

Who:

San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher District 4
Jacob Cushman Food Bank President & CEO James Floros
NALC Branch 70 President Ricardo Guzman

When:

Thursday, May 9, 2019
10:30 a.m.

Where:

San Diego County Administration Building
1600 Pacific Highway
San Diego CA 92101
(outside of building on Pacific Highway side)

Background:

The 27th annual ‘Stamp Out Hunger’ Food Drive is May 11th, 2019. On that day, residents are asked to leave non-perishable goods for letter carriers to collect during their appointed rounds.

Of San Diego County’s 3.2 million residents, 486,000 people face food insecurity every day. Of this number, 163,000 are children. Food insecurity means that little or no food is available at home, and those who are food insecure do not know how they will get their next meal. Currently, 1 in 7 adults, and 1 in 5 children face food insecurity in San Diego County.

Due to our region’s high cost of living, tens of thousands of low-income families, including low-income military families, veterans, fixed income seniors and school children living in poverty rely on food banks to put food on the table.

The food drive’s timing is crucial. Food banks and pantries often receive the majority of their donations during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons. By springtime, many pantries are depleted, entering the summer low on supplies at a time when many school breakfast and lunch programs are not available to children in need.

Through a lot of hard work, dedication and compassion — and the support of customers in the communities they serve, San Diego District letter carriers collected almost 750,000 pounds of food last year — total donations during the 26 years the drive has taken place has surpassed one billion pounds of food nationwide.

For additional information about this year’s Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, visit nalc.org/community-service/food-drive.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

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