National Association of Letters Carriers Sponsors Stamp Out Hunger May 9, 2009

Posted by Susan Carney May 7, 2009

This Saturday, a way to help those less fortunate in your community is as close as your mailbox.

The National Association of Letter Carriers (a fancy way of saying the men and women who deliver your mail each day) are sponsoring "Stamp Out Hunger," to assist the 7 million people in the US who require some type of food assistance each week (Stamp Out Hunger website, 2009).

How can you participate? Simple. First, check with your local post office to make sure they are participating in this event. You can access the USPS website here. Then, fill a plastic bag with non-perishable items (no glass, please!) and leave it by your mailbox in time for your mail carrier to pick it up on Saturday during the regular route. Easy breezy!

This is something the whole family can get involved in. Even the youngest children can help select cans from the pantry that other children might like to eat. They can help carry the bag(s) to the curb, and you can engage them in an age-appropriate conversation about helping others and how good that feels. Older kids might even want to go door to door, either collecting food or spreading the word about Stamp Out Hunger. (Be sure to only allow kids to knock on doors of people you know and trust).

The Stamp Out Hunger website has tools for getting the word out, like flyers, email alerts, and webpage widgets. This would make a great service project for some enterprising young people. But at the very least, everyone is capable of putting a couple of cans in a bag.