Bay Area Letter Carriers Taking Part In Food Drive Saturday

MARTINEZ (KCBS) - Hundreds of letter carriers in the Bay Area will be lifting an extra load Saturday as part of Stamp Out Hunger, the largest one-day food drive in the nation.

More than 50 million Americans live in homes where there is not enough to eat, said U.S. Postal Service spokesman Jim Wigdel.

"The need is really, really great," he said.

KCBS' Dave Padilla Reports:

Demand for food will increase once school lets out for the summer and children do not have access to cafeteria meals, said Larry Sly, executive director of the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano.

"Parents are going to have to be providing an additional meal to them that they would not have to," he said.

Sly said the Stamp Out Hunger drive has been a tremendous source of donations during the past 15 years.

Last year letter carriers nationwide collected a record 77 million pounds of non-perishable food in grocery bags left by the mailbox. The U.S. Postal Service set a goal of 80 million pounds for this year.

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