(Radio Iowa) – Iowans are encouraged to leave food by their mailboxes this weekend as part of a coast-to-coast effort to fight hunger. Randall Lein, a mail carrier with the U-S Postal Service in Ottumwa, says Stamp Out Hunger was started in 1993 by the National Association of Letter Carriers to help people who are food insecure.

Lein says there are certain types of food they want people to donate tomorrow (Saturday).

According to Lein, the food is transported to the local postal office, weighed, and retrieved by the local Food Bank of Iowa branch. He says the most food they’ve ever collected in Ottumwa in one year was prior to the pandemic.

“Before COVID, we got up to over 20,000 pounds, over ten tons of food,” Lein says. Since its inception, Stamp Out Hunger has collected nearly 2 BILLION pounds of food. To find out if your community participates, go to:
https://www.nalc.org/community-service/food-drive/branch-lookup