Community Corner

'Stamp Out Hunger' Campaign Saturday

Event seeks to collect food for local food banks.

Next Saturday Sachem-area residents are asked to leave a special gift for their postal delivery person: a donation to the Island Harvest Food Bank which is holding its annual food collection drive on Saturday, May 11.

Island Harvest Food Bank, Long Island’s largest hunger relief organization, is again partnering with the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) and the United States Postal Service for the 21st annual Stamp Out Hunger Campaign, part of the nation’s largest single-day food drive. 

On Saturday May 11 local residents can do their part by leaving non- perishable food items near their mailboxes — local mail carriers will do the rest. Food collected will benefit Island Harvest and the estimated 300,000 Long Islanders — including over 110,000 children — who face hunger each day.

“Hunger exists everywhere in the United States, even in an area as prosperous as Long Island,” said Randi Shubin Dresner, president and CEO, Island Harvest. “Stamp Out Hunger unites the Long Island community and reminds us that many of our neighbors face the risk of hunger on a daily basis and desperately need our help.”  
  
Stamp Out Hunger is being sponsored locally by Stop & Shop Supermarkets, this year’s grand sponsor, and the Long Island Rail Road. 

Food products needed includes canned soup, canned vegetables, pasta, rice, cereal. No glass jars or expired product, please. Regional mail carriers will collect the food and deliver them to Island Harvest, who will then distribute the food among 570 food pantries, soup kitchens and emergency feeding programs throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties.  
  
Follow the progress of the campaign on Island Harvest’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/islandharvest), and on Twitter: @IslandHarvest. About Hunger on Long Island Hunger is a state in which people do not get enough food to provide the nutrients for active and healthy lives. 

It can result from the recurrent and involuntary lack of access to food. Nearly 300,000 Long Islanders — including more than 110,000 children — face the risk of hunger everyday according to Island Harvest and Feeding America, a national hunger relief organization. Approximately 70,000 individuals seek food assistance in Nassau and Suffolk Counties each week through soup kitchens, food pantries and other feeding programs.   
  
Island Harvest Food Bank provides food and non-food items for people who are hungry and in need, giving them a voice to help them transition from uncertainty to stability. Island Harvest’s mission is to end hunger and reduce food waste on Long Island through efficient food and product collection and distribution systems; enhanced hunger awareness and nutrition education programs, job training, targeted services for specific populations, and outreach and advocacy activities and initiatives.


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