On Saturday May 12, 2012 the Salina community participated in the annual National Letter Carriers Association ‘Stamp Out Hunger’ food drive, the largest one day food drive in the nation. In 2011 the letter carriers collected 15,562 pounds of food, this year they more than doubled last year’s efforts by collecting 31,230 pounds of cans and boxed food items.

Letter carriers collected non-perishable food donations left by mailboxes and delivered them to the Emergency-Aid Food Bank. From there the donated food was dispersed to Ashby House, the Salvation Army, Domestic Violence Association of Central Kansas (DVACK), and the Salina Rescue Mission.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nearly 49 million Americans, including more than 16 million children are facing hunger. Additionally, in a recent survey of Feeding America food bank members reported that 1 in 8 Americans have requested emergency food assistance from a food bank in the last year.

The Letter Carriers Association and all of their community partners would like to extend their gratitude to the people of Salina for their caring generosity and to the volunteers who helped make the day a complete success.