Island Harvest to help Stamp Out Hunger on May 9

Letter carriers will pick up non-perishable food at your mailbox

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Island Harvest, Long Island’s largest hunger relief organization, feeding and supporting 316,000 Long Islanders annually, is proud to announce that it has been chosen by the National Association of Letter Carriers and the U.S. Postal Service to be the Long Island region’s sole recipient of its “Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive taking place on Long Island, and nationally, on Saturday May 9.

U.S. Postal Service letter carriers across the country will visit homes and businesses in every city, suburb and town in America to collect food for what is the nation’s largest food drive.

“This is it — the day to make a difference,” said Randi Shubin Dresner, the president and CEO of Island Harvest. “If ever you’ve thought about helping your community, the time is now. Be a part of something big,”

Long Islanders who want to participate will set out non-perishable food by their mailboxes on May 9, which will then be picked up by their letter carriers while delivering the day’s mail. The letter carriers will then deliver their collected food to an Island Harvest “Stamp Out Hunger” warehouse, where volunteers will sort food to be distributed immediately to Island Harvest’s network of 570 member agencies, including food pantries and soup kitchens throughout Long Island.

“While the letter carriers do all of the day’s heavy lifting, Stamp Out Hunger makes donating easy,” Shubin Dresner said. “All people have to do is leave their donation by their mailbox. Our goal is for every family to donate something, and let their letter carriers do the rest. It’s that simple.”

Since the inception of Stamp Out Hunger in 1992, over 1.3 billion pounds of food have been collected by letter carriers in the United States. Locally, last year Long Islanders donated more than 326,000 pounds of food and this year, Island Harvest expects a similar amount to be collected by letter carriers on 2,219 carrier routes across Long Island.

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