SARASOTA, FL – Each year, the National Association of Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive occurs on the second Saturday in May, benefiting local food banks. The effort is the country’s largest single-day food drive, providing residents with an easy way to donate food to their neighbors in need. In the 30 years since it began, the national food drive has collected about 1.82 billion pounds of food for those struggling to put food on the table.
On Saturday, May 14, while on their mail routes, this area’s approximately 150 city carriers and 50 rural carriers collected donations of food that residents placed near their mailboxes. In the afternoon, All Faiths Food Bank staff and volunteers were based at 10 different letter carrier drop-off locations, at the ready to load trucks to take these food donations back to the food bank. At the food bank (8171 Blaikie Ct., Sarasota), additional volunteers and staff sorted and arranged food in the warehouse to help prepare for future distribution.
This year, thanks to generous community members and the area’s letter carriers, a gratifying total of 80,210 of food was collected.
“Time and time again, we have been heartened by this community’s response when their friends and neighbors are in need,” said All Faiths Food Bank CEO Sandra Frank. “As the pandemic and worsening economic conditions continue to impact those who were already at-risk for hunger – as well as families new to food insecurity – we would like to extend our gratitude to those who donated bags of food as well as our community’s letter carriers, who cheerfully went above and beyond to collect the food this year.”
For more about All Faiths Food Bank, visit allfaithsfoodbank.org.
About All Faiths Food Bank
All Faiths Food Bank is the only food bank and largest hunger relief organization in Sarasota and DeSoto counties, providing millions of meals each year with nearly 200 agencies and programs throughout the community. All Faiths works not only to fight hunger today but also strives to end hunger – forever – by helping families and individuals gain long-term food security, enjoy better health outcomes, and achieve self-sufficiency. In 2021, All Faiths distributed 19 million pounds of food – equating to 17 million meals, provided 36% more meals than 2019 (pre-pandemic), and remained steadfast in its commitment to provide nutritional assistance to community members, including 44% who were new to the food bank. For its efforts, All Faiths was honored as the 2021 “Nonprofit of the Year” by the Sarasota Chamber of Commerce; the organization was also recognized as a Top 4 Food Bank in the country in 2020. All Faiths is rated 4 stars by Charity Navigator and is a member of the Feeding America and Feeding Florida networks. For more information visit allfaithsfoodbank.org.