Your Call To ‘Stamp Out Hunger'

Neither rain nor heat nor gloom of night will dampen spirits May 12 as the 20th anniversary of the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive gets under way in communities throughout the nation.

As representatives of the National Association of Letter Carriers, postal workers in Brandon, working side-by-side with Greater Brandon residents, will be collecting, sorting and stacking food on behalf of those in need.

The drive is the largest one-day food collection in the world, historically stocking the shelves of food banks and pantries nationwide with some 80-90 million pounds of non-perishable food items.

Here in the Greater Brandon area, the drive made possible with letter carriers from Brandon, Riverview and Valrico is expected to collect more than 90,000 pounds of food, to benefit in good part the Emergency Care Help Organization (ECHO) on Parsons Avenue.

ECHO serves more than 700 area residents monthly from the communities of Brandon, Lithia, Dover, Gibsonton, Seffner, Valrico and Riverview. The group provides food, clothing and household items to individuals and families in emergency situations up to four times in a lifetime.

The idea for the food drive was born in the early 1990s when two Arizona food carriers who delivered to a food pantry noticed their shelves were always bare around May.

The postal carriers union backed the effort and it quickly grew nationwide. Letter carriers have helped collect more than 1 billion pounds of food since those early days. Jim Brophy, a retired letter carrier, there from the start for the drive in Brandon, has said that part of the appeal of the drive is that it’s a local effort helping local people.

“It comes down to each letter carrier running his own food drive, with the people on his route contributing the food,” Brophy said.  “People know that the food will go to local people who need it. ”

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HOW TO TAKE PART IN THE STAMP OUT HUNGER FOOD DRIVE

That plastic bag you received in the mail, to fill for the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive? Fill it with non-perishable food items and place it by your mailbox, in time for mail delivery Saturday, May 12. Your letter carrier will pick up the food for delivery.

Meanwhile, ECHO needs volunteers to sort food May 12 and 13 at Feeding America off State Road 60 and 50th Street, at 4702 Transport Drive, in Building No. 6.

The available shifts are May 12, from 2 to 5 p.m. and from 4 to 7 p.m. Also, on May 13, from 9 a.m. to noon, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., noon to 4 p.m. and 2 to 6 p.m.

Any child participating in the Sunday sorting will receive, to give, a handmade Mother's Day card.

Volunteers must be at least 14 years of age unless directly supervised by a parent. All volunteers are required to wear closed-toe shoes.

To volunteer, sign up online. 

Questions?  Email Joni@echofl.org or call 813-685-0935.

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