Food banks need help, especially in the summertime

Food banks around Arizona are bracing for the most difficult time of the year.

The need for emergency food increases with summer temperatures, especially for at-risk children when the school breakfast and lunch programs end with the school year. For struggling families or seniors on fixed incomes, summer is the time when they reach out for help.

On behalf of Arizona food banks, I ask anyone who can to please support the National Association of Letter Carriers’ “Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive on Saturday May 13. America’s largest singleday food drive is one food banks across our state rely on to provide food and hope to the 1 in 5 Arizonans — and 1 in 4 children — who struggle with food insecurity.

Simply leave a bag of non-perishable food outside your mailbox on May 13. Your letter carrier does the rest, collecting it during normal delivery rounds. In 2016, 80 million pounds of food were collected across America and more than 2 million pounds in Arizona.

Please help “Stamp Out Hunger.” on May 13. And thank you to the letter carriers for their hard work and generosity on this uniquely special day of giving.

— Jerry Brown, Phoenix The writer is director of media relations at St. Mary’s Food Bank.

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