ORLANDO, Fla. – Stamp Out Hunger — the nation’s largest single-day food drive — returned Saturday in communities across Central Florida.
Each year, families leave non-perishable food items near their mailbox on the second Saturday in May. Letter carriers pick up the donations during their routes and the food is then taken to local food banks and organizations for distribution.
News 6 followed letter carrier Jennifer Kimmell as she picked up bags of food in east Orlando.
“It’s one of the best days of the year,” Kimmell said. “I’ll probably have a full truck and a full heart, absolutely, and hopefully full bellies after we’re done.”
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One in eight people in Central Florida are facing hunger, according to statistics from Second Harvest Food Bank. Marion, Volusia, Lake, Orange and Osceola counties all have a higher rate of food insecurity than the national average.
Food donated Saturday will go to children, families and seniors who can’t afford the essentials and need help to make ends meet.
Shane Ulein, a representative of the National Association of Letter Carriers, said this food drive has been very successful in years past.
“Before COVID, in one day we’ve gotten two million pounds of food,” Ulein said. “Last year, because we’re building up again, we got half a million pounds.”
Ulein said these food donations come in at a key time too, just as kids are about to get out of school for the summer.
“They rely on those meals in school. If people just do a search about food-insecure Americans, they will be shocked at what they see,” Ulein said. “You go down to Second Harvest Food Bank at the end of the day and see those trucks coming in and all that food, and the way it fills the warehouse (...) they tell me a lot of the food will hold out until the time school starts.”
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