SALT LAKE CITY – U.S. postal workers combined forces Saturday to collect food to “Stamp Out Hunger” for the Utah Food Bank.
It’s one of the largest single-day food drives in the nation. Last year, the Utah Food Bank reports it collected over 768,000 pounds of food in one day. That’s enough to make 640,000 meals.
“It’s a very good thing to be able to, if you don’t have enough to make ends meet, which a lot of people sometimes don’t, that you have that resource that you can rely on,” said Jason Duke from the U.S. Postal Service.
Residents were encouraged to place a bag of non-perishable food next to their mailboxes on Saturday by 9 a.m. Postal carriers picked up the food along their routes and brought it back to the post office, where it was sorted by volunteers from the Utah Food Bank.
“Fighting hunger statewide here in Utah is just that, it’s a statewide endeavor,” said Ginette Bott with the Utah Food Bank. “Collaborative efforts by all sorts of group have to help us as we deal with this issue of hunger.”
The food bank reports one in five Utah children risks missing a meal every day due to lack of resources, and 444,000 Utahns are unsure where their next meal will come from. The Utah Food Bank says donations come at a crucial time when school is getting out and many kids are left without access to school meals.
“The children who have been receiving breakfast and lunch are going to be home for the summer and in need of additional groceries in their households,” Bott said.
Locally donated food will remain in the communities where were picked up. For anyone who missed the drive, they can still drop-off donations to the Utah Food Bank. For more information, visit the organization's website.
