Hoosier Hills Food Bank partners with postal service to Stamp Out Hunger

Hoosier Hills Food Bank will be collecting food for their largest food drive of the year on Saturday, May 11. Stamp Out Hunger is sponsored annually by the Hoosier Hills Food Bank as well as the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 828. Monroe County residents can place food donations in their mailboxes or in a bag next to their mailboxes for their letter carrier to pick up for the food bank.

Stamp Out Hunger is one of Hoosier Hills Food Bank’s most important sources of food donations, representing 23 percent of the total amount raised in 2012. Last year, the letter carriers delivered 37,431 pounds of food according to their press release.

“We are hoping for more this year,” said Julio Alonso, executive director of the food bank.

Though the food bank has already distributed 1,197,672 pounds of food, through April of this year, up 19 percent from 2012, they are finding it difficult to maintain.
“Declining amounts of federal commodities, down 32 percent from last year, keep us working to fill the gap,” Alonso said.
 
He explains further that federal programs are especially important to the Hoosier Hills Food Bank because they provide staple foods such as cereals, pastas and an assortment of canned goods. Federal commodities are also important because of the sheer volume of food that they normally provide, roughly 400,000 pounds.

“I just walked through our distribution floor and our available supply of canned goods consists of 22 institutional size cans of ketchup and two institutional size cans of bamboo shoots,” Alonso said.

This year the food bank is emphasizing the need for canned goods, though all non-perishable food items are welcomed. According to their mailer, their most needed items include canned meat like tuna, chicken or beef stew, as well as canned fruit, canned vegetables, juice and juice boxes.

Additionally, the food bank’s wish list includes peanut butter, cereal and pasta. Glass jars, opened packages of food and perishable food cannot be accepted.

Hoosier Hills Food Bank collects and distributes over 3.1 million pounds of food annually to 93 non-profit agencies in Brown, Lawrence, Orange, Owen, Martin and Monroe counties. “Most of our clients are soup kitchens, domestic shelters, youth programs and low-income day cares.

While letter carriers provide most of the transportation for the donated foods for this drive, volunteers are welcome to drive the more challenging routes to supplement the letter carriers and help collect food.

More importantly though, volunteers are needed next week to help sort through donations explained Alonso.