Drive to Stamp Out Hunger is This Saturday
This Saturday, May 14, the Grand Rapids letter carriers will once again take part in the nationwide Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. Their goal: to collect 70,000 pounds of food, a roughly 10 percent increase from last year.
Saturday, May 14, letter carriers here in West Michigan and around the country will be going door to door collecting food for local hunger-relief charities. In Grand Rapids, that food will be donated to Feeding America West Michigan.
“This is one of the oldest and most fruitful partnerships we have,” said CEO Ken Estelle.
“People need to understand the amount of effort the letter carriers put into making this happen. Many of them have to make three or four runs to collect all the food on their routes. It really is an incredible amount of food,” Estelle said. Letter carrier Andrea Faulkner is coordinating the food drive in Grand Rapids.
Those wishing to participate in Stamp Out Hunger have two options. They can fill a bag with healthy, nonperishable food and leave it by their mailboxes in time for their normal Saturday delivery. Or they can give a meal online at FeedWM.org/StampOutHunger. Every dollar donated provides four meals to those in need.
As a reminder to give, Meijer is providing paper grocery bags to most free-standing residences in Grand Rapids. All Grand Rapids residents will also receive an informational postcard the week of the food drive.
Local sponsors include Meijer, Heart of West Michigan United Way, the Kent-Ionia Labor Council and the National Association of Letter Carriers.