SANTA ROSA, April 28 – Letters carriers in the North Bay are hoping their customers will help them break all records on Saturday, May 8 when the men and women who deliver the mail collect food donations left at mail boxes to help increasing numbers of people put food on the table.

“Why not aim high?” said Linda James, Food Drive Coordinator for the National Association of Letter Carriers North Coast Branch 183. “Our goal is 153,000 lbs. this year, including the goal of 60,000 lbs of food we want to deliver to the Redwood Empire Food Bank – almost 10,000 more pounds than last year.”

The May 8 effort is part of the 18th annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive, the largest one-day food drive in the United States which has collected nearly 1 billion lbs of food since its inception in 1993. Last year, the national effort produced 73.4 million pounds of canned and packaged food that went to feeding the nation’s hungry.

Some 400 carriers of the NALC Branch 183 collected 148,382 lbs of food last year, including 52,250 that went to the REFB, the largest food bank on the North Coast between Petaluma and the Oregon border.

This year NALC Branch 183,  whose Letter Carriers cover Sonoma County, northern Napa County and portions of Lake County, is hoping to reach more of their customers.

“We’re going to be putting out a lot more yard signs this year, hoping that we’ll get good results from more visibility,” said James.

The Stamp Out Hunger food drive encourages residents and businesses to leave bags of canned and packaged foods on their front porch or by their mail box on Saturday, May 8.

Their letter carriers will pick up the bags during the course of delivering the mail. The food is taken back to post office processing centers where it is sorted and then taken to the REFB in Santa Rosa and other pantries in the North Bay which in turn distribute it to people in need.

David Goodman, Executive Director of the REFB, urged local residents to participate.

“You don’t have to go any farther than your front door or mail box to do your part to fight hunger,” he said. “A bag of canned food, soups and pasta and other products may seem small if things are going well for you, but it is huge for an individual or a family with kids who is out of work, homeless, or simply doesn’t make enough money to adequately feed themselves.”

Residents also may donate food to the Stamp Out Hunger food drive at their local post office. Collection barrels with the REFB logo on them will be placed at most post offices in the North Bay.

Food also may be donated in front of the Redwood Empire Food Bank headquarters, 3320 Industrial Drive in Santa Rosa. 

The REFB provides hunger relief to some 70,000 individuals and families in every community of Sonoma County including Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Cotati, Sonoma Valley, Santa Rosa, the West County and Russian River communities and the North County from Windsor to Cloverdale.

The REFB is also the primary food source for pantries serving Lake, Mendocino, Del Norte and Humboldt counties.

For more information, call or email Billy Bartz, Food Drive and Events Coordinator, 707-523-7900 or wbartz@refb.org.