‘IT MEANS A LOT’: HOW YOU CAN HELP LETTER CARRIERS DONATE TO FOOD BANK

TULSA, Okla. –

The Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma and the US Postal Service have teamed up for the annual National Association of Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.

Every year, leading up to the second Saturday in May, letter carriers all over will be dropping off post cards and bags for people to fill with food items to be donated to the food bank.

This year, the official day of giving is May 11. The food bank hopes to collect hundreds of thousands of pounds of food this year to help out people in Green Country.

For the letter carriers who drop off the bags and then collect them a few days later, it means a lot to be able to play a part in helping out so many people.

“We’re at ground zero. I mean carriers are in a unique position because we are working in the community. Some of the communities we are working in are actually going to be recipients of this assistance. So we’re really in a unique for position to help them out, and it means a lot to us,” Gary Rice, a USPS letter carrier said.

It’s a project that all letter carriers are involved in. If you see a blue bag in your mailbox, you can fill that bag with non-perishable food items so that letter carriers can come by and collect the food to be donated.

The Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma’s CEO, Jeff Marlow said he loves seeing the community work together on a big project like this.

“What I love about it is we are all in this together. It’s our US Postal Service, and it’s our neighbors. It’s everybody, any walks of life. You can all be part of this and donate and give back to our neighbors and guests in need,” Marlow said.

If you get a bag but forget to leave it out by May 11 for a letter carrier to pick up, letter carriers will still collect the bags a few days later so the food can be donated.