SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — May 13th marks an important day in the fight against hunger in Utah as its the annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, one of the largest single-day food drives in the nation.
As letter carriers deliver your mail this Saturday, May 13, they will also pick up any food donations left by the mailbox. Residents across the state of Utah who would like to participate in the drive should place a bag or box of non-perishable food next to their mailbox by 9 a.m. for letter carriers to pick up.
Letter carriers will retrieve the bags of food and take them to their local post office, where Utah Food Bank volunteers will step in. All the donated food will remain in that community, according to the Utah Food Bank.
The items most in need at this time are canned meats, peanut butter, boxed meals, and canned fruits and vegetable, the food bank said. Do not include glass items.
If your food donations are not picked up, place them by the mailbox the following Monday. You can also take your donations to a Harmons of a Utah Food Bank warehouse.
While this year marks the food drive’s 31st year, the Utah Food Bank said the drive comes at a “critical time” for the state.
It is estimated that 1 in 9 children in Utah will miss a daily meal due to lack of food and 289,000 Utahns do not know where their next meal will come from, the press release said.
As summer approaches, many school-aged children face greater hunger as school meal programs help alleviate the number of meals families have to provide. In addition, the pandemic time SNAP benefits expired in March, which the Utah Food Bank said “led to a drastic increase in pantry visitors.”
For more information, visit the Utah Food Bank’s website.
