By LINDA CHION KENNEY
Residents are asked to recognize the second Saturday of May, which marks the annual return of the National Association of Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, billed as the nation’s largest all-volunteer one-day collection effort.
Seeking to stock the shelves of food banks in communities nationwide, letter carriers on their routes May 11 are set to collect bagged donations of nonperishable food items to benefit local pantries.According to NALC organizers, the drive over the past 30 years has collected approximately 1.9 billion pounds of food for those in need.
Linda Chion KenneyPhoto
Wipa Watson, outside the ECHO Riverview Resource Center, at 10509 Riverview Drive
“Our letter carriers will collect food donations in 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam,” said Louis DeJoy, postmaster general of the U.S. Postal Service, in a public service announcement.
According to NALC President Brian Renfroe, one in six Americans face hunger, including millions of children, senior citizens and veterans. Through the NALC’s annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, “Letter carriers collect tens of millions of pounds of food in just one day,” Renfroe said. “Simply leave your donations of nonperishable food in a bag near your mailbox on the second Saturday in May, and your letter carrier will do the rest.”
ECHO Riverview is one nonprofit set to benefit from the drive, and, in turn, ECHO, overall, has been asking for hundreds of volunteers to step up and help with the day’s duties, which involve transporting food from post offices back to ECHO’s resource centers, where volunteers will be charged to sort and store the food for neighbors in need.
As of the morning of May 12, volunteer shifts remained open for the ECHO Brandon Resource Center (507 North Parsons Ave.) and ECHO Riverview Resource Center (10509 Riverview Drive). Volunteer shifts had been filled for the Riverview, Sun City Center and Valrico post offices, and the Apollo Beach/Ruskin carrier annex. Openings remained for the Gibsonton, Brandon and Seffner post offices.
According to ECHO officials, last year, more than 65,000 pounds of food was donated locally, and the hope is to collect even more this year.
ECHO, at its operations in Brandon and Riverview, collectively serves 18 ZIP codes in unincorporated Hillsborough County. True to its mission, ECHO was on track to reach and/or surpass a record-breaking 30,000 neighbors served this fiscal year, which ends June 30. That’s more than double the average number of households served previously, according to Eleanor Saunders, who issued this statistic in February, after being named Riverview Citizen of the Year by the Central Hillsborough County Chamber of Commerce, formerly known as the Greater Riverview Chamber of Commerce.
ECHO issued a call for volunteers for the letter carriers’ “Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive, held the second Saturday in May.
In heralding the cause for ECHO support, Saunders, in a video, offers the story of Victoria, a woman whose husband suffered a debilitating accident in the family’s only car. Her part-time job as a translator was not enough to make ends meet.
Recognizing that Victoria was in great need of food and additional help and guidance, a neighbor brought her to the ECHO Riverview Resource Center.
Saunders gave her testimony standing under a sign that spoke to ECHO’s mission, “to assist residents of Hillsborough County with emergency food, clothing and life-stabilizing programs and resources.”
According to Saunders, Victoria left ECHO relieved and with the resources she needed. “At ECHO, that’s really what we’re all about,” Saunders said. “We want to be here in those moments of crisis when folks are really hurting, because, whether we like to admit it or not, all of us are just one accident away from needing a place like [ECHO].”
For more on the drive, visit www.nalc.org/community-service/food-drive/. For more on ECHO and volunteer opportunities, visit www.echofl.org/.