Utahns can expect their mail to be delivered as usual this Saturday but with a catch. Your letter carrier will be asking for something in return - a bag of food.
May 14 marks the 30th anniversary of the annualNational Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, a day when local letter carriers collect non-perishable groceries along their routesfor the Utah Food Bank and its 216 affiliates across the state.
Utah Food Bank President and CEO Ginette Bott said the annual drive is one of the largest donation events of their year.
"Here in Utah, we're fortunate to have the National Association of Letter Carriers," said Bott. "We have the National Rural Letter Carriers Association and the U.S. Postal Service. They all come together to have a one-day event that really is important to Utah and our fight against hunger."
Bott said the letter carriers' assistance helps food banks serve an estimated 410,000 Utahns who periodically face hunger. She added that all of the food taken in during the drive will be distributed to food pantries in the community where the donation is made.
Bott said thousands of postal workers in Utah and across the country will participate in the Stamp Out Hunger Drive. She said the letter carriers often have friends and family members follow them on their route to help handle the volume of donations.
"The letter carriers take a postcard and put it in people's mailbox," said Bott. "They deliver a plastic bag, and people tend to go right to their pantry and take products they've purchased for their family. So the variety is awesome, going from one family to another based on what one family enjoys."
Bott said the Stamp Out Hunger event is back this year after a two-year break for the pandemic.
"I was so hopeful that when the pandemic came back to a bit of a control that our numbers would come down," said Bott. "But all of a sudden, inflation started to take an impact. And these same families who had been hampered by issues during the pandemic, now we're even more challenged by inflation."
Letter carriers ask that families wishing to donate fill up the bag provided by their carrier this past week and set it near their mailbox by 9 a.m.
For more information, go toUtahFoodBank.org.
