Help Wichita Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger on May 9

Nation’s Largest Food Drive Helps Millions of Americans in Need

It's the day your letter carrier carries more than the mail
Letter Carriers Food Drive

WICHITA, KS — Wichita and surrounding area letter carriers will hold their 17^th annual Food Drive on Saturday, May 9. Postal patrons are encouraged to participate by placing non-perishable food items in a bag near their mailbox prior to mail delivery.

The 17th annual National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive to “Stamp Out Hunger” is the largest one-day food drive in the nation. Carriers collected a record 73.1 million pounds of food nationwide in last year’s drive including over 137,000 pounds in the Wichita area.

An estimated 35 million people are at risk of hunger in America, including 12 million children.

“Donations are particularly critical at this time since most school lunch programs are suspended during the summer months and thousands of children in Kansas must find alternate sources of nutrition,” said Larry Gunkel, Programs Manager of the Kansas Food Bank.

“Our letter carriers are in every neighborhood six days a week and they are a big part of the community, so we take enormous pride in being able to help those who are in need,” said acting Wichita Postmaster, Brenda Bishop.

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An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 149 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes, six days a week. It has 34,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products and services, not tax dollars, to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.