The Letter Carriers Food Drive, held Saturday, May 9, collected 96,298 pounds of food for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. This food will be sorted, processed and distributed to 169 member agencies of the Food Bank throughout the area to help people in need of food assistance.

“This food comes at a critical time, as we head into the summer months when we traditionally see food donations decrease,” said Andrew Schiff, chief executive officer of the Food Bank. “We appreciate the tireless efforts of our letter carries, volunteers and, of course, the postal customers who donated this food.”

 The campaign, Stamp Out Hunger, is coordinated across the country by the National Association of Letter Carriers. Postal customers are asked to leave a bag of non-perishable food by their mailbox so that their letter carrier can collected it and deliver it to the Food Bank where it can be dispersed to neighbors in need.

All year long, the Food Bank welcomes food donations during regular business hours at its headquarters at 200 Niantic Avenue in Providence. Most-needed items include canned soup and vegetables, peanut butter, pasta, rice, canned beans, tuna, and healthy cereals. As always, the food collected will be sorted by volunteers who check for use-by dates and damaged packaging.

This year marks the 23rd anniversary of the Letter Carriers Food Drive, a national effort to fight hunger. Across the country, partners supporting Stamp Out Hunger include the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), United States Postal Service (USPS), AFL-CIO, Feeding America, National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association (NRLCA), United Way, Valassis and Valpak.