KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — This Saturday will mark the 31st anniversary of the National
Association of Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. Knoxville carriers will be participating May 13.

Every second Saturday in May, letter carriers in more than 10,000 cities and towns across America collect food donations in one of the largest one-day food drives in the nation.

Matt Haggard, the Knoxville Branch President of the NALC, shared that mail carriers are on the front lines, often seeing the true impacts of food insecurity in the communities they serve.

“The carriers, city and rural, we’re the ones who are out in the public every day, we see the food inefficiencies as far as the elderly as far as families in need for the food,” Haggard said.

Over the course of its 30-year history, the drive has collected more than 1.82 billion pounds of food.

Haggard shares that after needing to take a break during the COVID-19 pandemic, he hopes the food drive will pick up steam again.

“We had a drop, last year was our first year going back into it we collected about half the food,” explained Haggard. “We took a three-year hiatus where people every year were normally used to putting out food.”

Nearly 1,500 NALC branches in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands are involved in the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.

To donate, just place a box or can of non-perishable food next to your mailbox before your letter carrier delivers mail on the second Saturday in May. The carrier will do the rest. The food is sorted, and delivered to an area food bank or pantry, where it is available for needy families.