HONOLULU (KHON2) — The United States Postal Service led the effort to “Stamp Out Hunger” by collecting canned goods during its annual one-day food drive.
Mail carriers nationwide were sent to pick up donations while delivering mail on Saturday. Donations collected throughout the islands were dropped off at the Hawaii Food Bank on Saturday night.
According to officials, over 1.9 billion pounds of food has been collected during the campaign’s first 31 years.
“The need has continued to tick up. We’re serving 28% more people today than we were a year ago, so our community is hurting. Times are tight and it’s really, really hard to make ends meet so that’s why days like today are so important,” explained Hawaii Food Bank President and CEO, Amy Miller.
Reports said Hawaii netted more than 193 tons of food donations in 2023 alone, while also collecting more than $26,000 in monetary donations.
“We’ve been doing this for 32 years, the National Association of Letter Carriers,” said NALC Food Drive Spokesperson Adele Yoshikawa. “We always tell people we do more than just deliver the mail. We help organizations like this with the local food drive.”
Of course, it is never too late to donate! You can always make a monetary donation if you missed your chance to donate canned goods. To get started, text NALC to 71777.