‘Stamp Out Hunger’ food drive to take place this Saturday

One of the biggest single-day food drives in the country — the 32nd annual National Association of Letter Carriers “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive — is happening on May 11, and the need for participation is more urgent than ever.

“Stamp Out Hunger” is an event that originated more than 40 years ago and now collects and distributes more than 60 to 70 million pounds of food annually, according to Jerry Brown, a spokesperson for St. Mary’s Food Bank. An estimated 230,000 letter carriers nationwide, including 5,000 in metro Phoenix, pick up canned food donations on their regular mail route and distribute their collection to local food banks to help them stock up for the summer. The event occurs on the second Saturday of May every year.

This nationwide event first established its roots in Arizona back in 1976. According to St. Mary’s, Phoenix and Glendale letter carriers, from NALC Branch 576, used their pickup trucks to gather food donations and deliver them to St. Mary’s. The food drive started to expand nationally in the 90s and has now collected two billion pounds of food over the last three decades.

But as the scope of the event has increased, so has the level of food insecurity in both the country and the Valley. Brown said that St. Mary’s is currently seeing 8,000 families per week at its Phoenix and Surprise locations, a number akin to the amount seen during the pandemic. He said the number of senior citizens, in particular, coming to the food bank is unprecedented.

“Seniors have really been impacted by inflation,” Brown said. “A lot of them are on fixed incomes, and when the price of everything goes up 10 to 15%, and your chip that comes in is exactly the same where it gets a 1 to 2% increase for cost of living, it really makes a difference.”

Brown said he’s even seen volunteers who have consistently given their time to the food bank now also need assistance themselves.

“I was talking to one guy, and he said, ‘you know, I fought wars, I took care of family my entire life. I never asked anybody for anything. I need some help now,’” Brown said.

Brown said the effects of rising inflation are being felt by the food bank itself as well. St. Mary’s has now been forced to dig into its own pockets in order to keep food on the table for those struggling with food insecurity, but it’s not a solution that can continue to hold up.

“St. Mary’s is purchasing more food than we ever had,” Brown said. “The amount of donations that we receive from a food standpoint has not kept up so that leaves us with no choice but to purchase some of the food... but it’s not sustainable year after year after year if we’re going to have to buy millions of dollars’ worth of food.”

Brown also touched on how the situation is different from the pandemic due to the difference in assistance from federal programs. For instance, the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program, an emergency relief program that ran its course from May 2020 to May 2021, distributed more than $5 billion worth of food during the pandemic.

Now that these types of programs are no longer in effect, the effects of inflation are becoming increasingly more impactful. Brown said that food banks like St. Mary’s can only do so much to keep acquiring enough food to feed families. Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act bill’s summary was introduced May 1, aiming to add funding for food banks and improve access to food. Stabenow said the goal is to get the bill passed by next year.

People can now donate $25 on St. Mary’s website to fill a bag of food that will be distributed along with the canned donations.

More information on how to contribute to the food drive can be found on the NALC’s website, https://www.nalc.org/ community-service/food-drive.