Olympia residents urged to join annual 'Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive'

Olympia City Council member Clark Gilman encouraged residents to participate in the annual "Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive," a nationwide effort to support local food banks.

At a city council meeting on Tuesday, May 5, Gilman said residents who wish to participate can leave bags of nonperishable food by their mailboxes this weekend for collection.

Organized by the National Association of Letter Carriers, the event will take place on Saturday, May 9. According to a news release on the United States Postal Service (USPS) website, the drive is held every second Saturday in May, when letter carriers across the country collect food donations along their delivery routes.

Since launching in 1993, the initiative has grown into the county’s largest one-day food collection effort, with participation from more than 10,000 cities and towns, and more than 1.9 billion pounds of food collected nationwide.

To participate, residents can place a bag of nonperishable food items, such as canned goods, rice, pasta and boxed meals, near their mailbox before regular mail delivery. Letter carriers will collect the donations and deliver them directly to local food banks and pantries.

Gilman said donations collected in Olympia will go directly to the Thurston County Food Bank through partnerships between local branches of the letter carriers union and community food banks.

He noted that residents may see volunteers, not just letter carriers, picking up food donations during the drive.

“My letter carrier, Danny, wanted people to know that if someone who is not the letter carrier or driving a mail truck picks up the bag, that is because volunteers are helping expand the collection effort,” Gilman said. “The volume of donations is often more than letter carriers can gather while also delivering mail.”

According to the USPS, more than 47 million Americans experience food insecurity, including millions of children and seniors. The agency said the drive is critical because food banks often see donations decline after the holiday season, while demand remains high.