The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) will conduct its 26th annual national food drive on Saturday, May 12, and the Houston post office will participate.
The NALC “Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive” provides residents with an easy way to donate food to needy people in the community. Customers are encouraged to leave a sturdy bag – paper or plastic – containing non-perishable foods (such as canned soup, canned vegetables, canned meats and fish, pasta, peanut butter, rice or cereal) next to their mailbox before the regular mail delivery on that day. Letter carriers will collect the food as they deliver mail along their postal routes, and it will later be distributed to local food pantries.
Organizers said Missouri ranks 23rd among U.S. states in the percentage of children who lack regular access to food, and in the Ozarks, 1-in-4 kids don’t know where their next meal will come from.
Several partners assist the NALC in the food drive, including the U.S. Postal Service, AFL-CIO, the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association (NRLCA), the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), Valpak, United Way of the Ozarks, the AARP Foundation, Feeding America and Valassis.
For more information, call the Houston post office at 417-967-2376 or log onto www.nalc.org/food.