Stamp Out Hunger 2025
The National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 6000 and the United States Postal Service Long Island District in partnership with Island Harvest will be collaborating on our 33rd annual STAMP OUT HUNGER FOOD DRIVE, on Saturday May 10, 2025.
Last year 2024, Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive collected 382,175 pounds of food for our neighbors in need on Long Island. According to the Island Harvest estimates, the 382,175 pounds of food collected is the equivalent of approximately 318,500 meals for food-insecure people here on Long Island.
Island Harvest has been our partner in this worthy endeavor for as long as I can remember. Again, this year I am honored to be working with Bena Halloran who is the Food Collection Coordinator for Island Harvest. She and her team work tirelessly to make the food drive a success. Island Harvest works with 300 Member Agencies, these are local food pantries that are here on Long Island.
Through the Food Collection and Distribution Program, Island Harvest directly delivers food and support services to neighbors in need across Long Island, these efforts include: The Kids Weekend Backpack Feeding Program, School Pantry Program, Youth Produce Project, and Summer Food Service Program which distributed more than 777,630 meals to children at-risk for food insecurity at more than 105 sites. The Commodity Supplemental Food Program provided monthly USDA food boxes to up to 8,000 seniors who are considered to have an extremely low income at 87 sites. The Mobile Market supported nearly 30,000 households – including seniors, veterans, military families, active-duty personnel with more than 400,000 pounds of product supplementing over 320,000 meals.
This year with rising inflation more seniors and veterans who are on a fixed income will be looking to Island Harvest for support due to rising inflation costs not only on food and utilities but also prescription medication. Imagine having to make a choice between prescription medication or food, a choice I hope one of us never reading this article must make!
Over 42 million people, including 13 million children in America, experience hunger daily. They go to bed not knowing where their next meal is coming from.
Soon schools will be closed for the summer and the food programs that these children depend on will not be there for them to have a hot breakfast and lunch meal. They will be depending on food pantries to help them get through the summer months.
It’s disheartening to learn each year that that food is left at mailboxes and not picked up. I recognize the additional burden placed on you all and appreciate those of you who champion this critical program each year. Each and every one of you can play a role in helping to end hunger on Long Island. By participating in this campaign and committing to delivering the cards and picking up food on May 10 th , you ensure that children, seniors, veterans and so many others will have access to healthy food they need to thrive.
I will be sending food drive postcards to every post office, which will be delivered by you the week prior to the food drive. Every mailbox will have a postcard delivered alerting the community to place a bag of nonperishable food items outside their mailbox on Saturday May 10th. Remember the food that we collect stays here on Long Island to help our local communities, family, and friends. All the shop stewards this year will be food drive coordinators unless you appoint someone in your place.
Local 338 RWDSU/UFCW has donated 72,000 food drive bags that will be distributed to some of the post offices. Local 338 spends money on printing these bags. The least we can do is deliver them and pick up the food in those bags! Any post office that would like food drive bags please email me at: tsiesto@nalcbr6000.com. I know the number of deliveries for every office so there is no need to give me that information.
Without a successful food drive, food banks could be turning away those in need due to a lack of food. So, please participate by doing your part delivering the postcards and food drive bags if your post office receives them and picking up non-perishable food items at the mailbox on Saturday May 10th.
I would like to thank all the letter carriers of Branch 6000 that will be working extra hard that day delivering mail and collecting food to make this year’s food drive a success!
