Once a year, Mike Hunsucker wakes up early and drives to the Food Bank of North Alabama. He stands there—right in the middle of the barren warehouse—and thinks of all the families who don’t have enough food. Then, he heads to work, where he does something to fix the problem.
That one day a year is the Letter Carrier’s Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, an event Mike heads up each year in North Alabama.
He visits the Food Bank early in the morning and at the end of the day. He says his second trip is happier. The shelves have been replenished, ready to distribute food to many charities across the area.
“What a sight it is to see the food bank empty in the morning,” Mike said. “By 10 p.m., it’s jam-packed full. It always means something to me to go in there and see all the food we collected in just one day.
“A lot of people never have to deal with hunger, but there’s such a great need that people don’t see…because they are insulated from it. It’s a great feeling to see all that food and know that it’s going to people who don’t have anything to eat.”
Mike said a quarter of American families struggle with food issues, a problem that is exacerbated in the summer months when donations are lower. People give more during the holidays, but that surplus is gone by May. Letter carriers see poverty every day, often stopping outside homes in need of repair as they deliver piles of bills.
Gloria Hollins, Food Sourcing and Distribution Director for the Food Bank of North Alabama, said the Letter Carrier’s Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive is always a good source of canned food. “We receive generous donations from retailers, but the canned goods are never enough to meet the demands of our more than 240 partner agencies.”
“Everybody has a big heart around the holidays; when you’re able to sit down and enjoy a good meal, that’s the time you think about those who are in need,” Gloria said. “Hunger is a daily, year-round thing. After the holidays pass, we still have very good givers but not in the volume we have during the holidays.”
The Letter Carrier’s Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive is the largest, single-day food drive in the country. In the 25 years since the food drive started, letter carriers have collected more than 1.5 billion pounds of food nationwide. Just last year, letter carriers collected more than 135,000 pounds of food in North Alabama, Mike said.
Gloria added that more than 64,000 pounds went directly to the Food Bank of North Alabama.
Keeping It Local
The Food Bank of North Alabama serves agencies in 11 North Alabama counties, but they take into consideration many people would prefer to help those in their own counties.
“Because the Food Bank’s share of the Letter Carrier’s Food Drive originates in Madison County, for the first month or so, we try to distribute as much as we can to the Madison County area,” Gloria said. “Then we allow our other agencies across North Alabama to also benefit from the food drive.”
What to Donate
The big thing to remember is to donate things you yourself would want to eat. Other items to consider giving include high-protein food like canned meat and peanut butter. Canned fruits and vegetables, pasta, rice and cereal and complete meal items, like macaroni & cheese and canned soups and stews are also good choices. Do not donate anything that has been home-canned. If items do not fit inside your mailbox, try to hang them from the post or get them as close as possible to the mailbox.
The 2017 Letter Carrier Food Drive is set for May 13.
Don’t worry about forgetting about the food drive as you plan for Mother’s Day—May 14 this year—the letter carriers will leave you a notice, reminding you to open your heart and your mailbox for those in need.
