Food insecurity affects everyone
(HAMILTON COUNTY REPORTER) — Maybe you found a bag in your mailbox with a note attached. Maybe you’ve noticed signs around the area, posts on social media, or the banner for this paper.
Saturday, May 11 is the 32nd annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC).
“This is a big day,” local letter carrier Greg Gormong said. “It’s the single largest food drive in America.”
For the second year, Gormong is heading up the Stamp Out Hunger food drive for the local NALC Union 888, which encompasses Hamilton, Boone, and parts of Hendricks counties. Like Gormong, letter carriers travel through the community every day, often coming face to face with a sad reality for far too many – hunger, or what is termed “food insecurity,” which means that people can’t access the food they need.
Canned goods, especially meats and fruits, peanut butter, cereal, and mac & cheese are all great items to donate. (Reporter photo by Amy Adams)
In October 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service released its annual Household Food Insecurity in the United States report that the number of those experiencing food insecurity had risen to 44 million. That marks the largest one-year increase since 2008. More than 13 million children feel hunger’s impact on their overall health and ability to perform in school, along with more than five million seniors over age 60 who live on fixed incomes and are often too embarrassed to ask for help.
Over the course of its 30-year history, the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive has collected more than 1.82 billion pounds of food, thanks to the universal delivery network of the postal service that spans the entire nation from Alaska to Florida and Maine to Hawaii, including Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Branch 888 alone has averaged more than 90,000 pounds of food a year delivered to local food pantries from this one-day drive. This year, the goal is to collect more than 100,000 pounds of food. In addition to letter carriers placing grocery sacks with detailed instructions in mailboxes along their routes, Gormong has reached out to cities and counties, businesses and apartment complexes. He has found broad support, representing grass roots support from everyone from mayors to rural carriers.
“I feel like this year is going to be one of our biggest years for this area and across the country,” Gormong said. “There’s a lot of volunteer work going into this that we aren’t necessarily compensated for, but the ends justify the means that we’re helping out the community.”
Gormong also expresses that timing is crucial for the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive as food banks and pantries often receive a majority of donations during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons. By springtime, many pantries are depleted entering summer, just the time when many school breakfast and lunch programs are not available to children in need.
“This really helps them get over the hump,” Gormong said.
A group of women from Women Building Friendship in Westfield helped fold grocery sacks and attach instruction cards for the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive at Open Doors in Westfield. (Photo by Susan Corona-Stone)
All food will be distributed locally to food banks and pantries such as Hamilton County Harvest Food Bank, Delaware Township Trustee’s Office, and Open Doors Pantry of Westfield. To see a more complete list of food pantries and meal programs across Hamilton County, go to tinyurl.com/HamCoPantriesApril2024.
The NALC and local food banks have made participating in the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive as easy as possible. Simply fill the sack with non-perishable items and place it by your mailbox on Saturday, May 11, for pickup by your letter carrier. According to Gormong, good items to donate include canned chicken or tuna, canned fruit, cereal, chunky meat soups, and small peanut butter and jelly jars.
Or, equally as easy, go to nalc.org/food, select your state, select a food bank in your area, and make a financial contribution.