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Community Corner

Stamp Out Hunger

Stamp Out Hunger

Starting today - The Postal Office's and the Food Bank For New York City  Stamp Out Hunger! food drive.  The food drive will culminate on Saturday, May 8 — which will mark the nation’s largest single-day food drive.

How you can help:

Throughout the week, everyone can help Stamp Out Hunger! in Brooklyn, by making a delivery of non-perishable food items like canned meats and fish, canned soup, juice, pasta, vegetables, cereal and rice, at your local post office.  All food donations will be repacked by the Food Bank and redistributed to community and emergency food programs to help families in need.  There are 300 emergency food programs in Brooklyn — approximately one-third of the 1,000 programs throughout New York City.   You can also donate by the click of your mouse.  Just log on to www.foodbanknyc.org.

“Nearly half of all Brooklyn residents experienced difficulty affording needed food last year, and that is simply unacceptable in a nation like ours,” said Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. “Far too many of our fellow New Yorkers are going to bed hungry, especially in Brooklyn, which has more soup kitchens and food pantries than any other borough. While that shows Brooklynites care about the issue of hunger and providing for friends and neighbors who are struggling to get even the most basic foods, our borough still has great need. And that’s why, again this year, I am proud to team up with the National Association of Letter Carriers and Food Bank for New York City to ‘Stamp Out Hunger’—and I urge everyone to give what they can and work toward the day when no Brooklynite or New Yorker goes hungry.”

In Brooklyn: 42 percent of Brooklyn residents experienced difficulty affording needed food in 2009.

In Brooklyn: Emergency Food Programs currently provide food to approximately 500,000 people annually (approximately 1.3 million in NYC).

In Brooklyn: Forty-three percent of Emergency Food households are households with children age 17 and under (40 percent NYC).

In Brooklyn: Approximately one-third (31 percent) of Brooklyn Emergency Food Program households have elderly members age 65 and up (29 percent NYC).

For more information about Stamp Out Hunger, ask your letter carrier or contact your local post office.  Better yet, stop by the post office on May 3 – 8 and make a canned food donation!

About the Food Bank For New York City
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