Meridian and Lauderdale County residents are encouraged to leave bags of nonperishable food in their mailboxes on Saturday, May 10, as the National Association of Letter Carriers hosts its annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive.

 

The yearly event, which takes place throughout the country on the second Saturday in May, collects nonperishable food for local food banks, giving residents an opportunity to help those in need in their own communities.

 

“It’s the world’s largest one day food drive event. If you’d like to help out, all you have to do to be involved is to put a nonperishable food item(s) in your mailbox, and your mail carrier will do the rest,” said NALC Coordinator Veronica Davis in a statement announcing this year’s drive. “All the food collected will stay in our local community.”

 

According to the NALC, the food drive was first held in October 1991 as a pilot drive in 10 cities and quickly grew into a nationwide effort. The drive was moved to the second Saturday in May in 1993 as food banks and pantries said that is when holiday food donations begin to dwindle.

 

Since its beginning, the Stamp Out Hunger food drive has collected roughly 1.9 billion pounds of food for people in need.