Local POs holding food drives

The 27th annual letter carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger food drive will take place Saturday, May 11. This is the largest one-day food drive in the nation, according to the USPS website.

Participation is easy. Residents in Bullard, Troup, Jacksonville, Rusk and Alto can simply place boxes or bags of non-perishable food items next to their mailboxes before the mail carrier arrives on Saturday, May 11.

The items will be picked up and delivered to a local area food bank, pantry or shelter where it will be made available to needy families.

“Every second Saturday in May, letter carriers in more than 10,000 cities and towns across America collect the goodness and compassion of their postal customers who participate in the National Association of Letter Carries (NALC) Stamp Out Hunger National Food Drive,” states the USPS website.

Items collected will benefit Bullard Mission House, 226 S. Phillips St., Bullard; Troup Food Pantry at the First United Methodist Church, 202 E. Duval St., Troup; HOPE (Helping Others Pursue Enrichment), 595 S. Ragsdale St., Jacksonville; The Good Samaritan, 190 W. Second St., Rusk; and the Alto Food Pantry, 176 W. San Antonio St., Alto.

“With 42 million people facing hunger every day in America, including 13 million children, this drive is one way,” according to the website, to help those in need within one’s own community.

Nearly 1,500 branches of the National Association of Letter Carriers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands are involved. In the past 25 plus years, this drive has delivered more than one billion pounds of food.