Saturday, May 11 will mark the 27th anniversary of the National Association of Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. Each year, this drive provides much-needed food supplies to Tap-In, which distributes thousands of pounds of food to East Bay residents each year.

Letter carriers walk through the community every day, often coming face to face with a sad reality for too many Rhode Islanders: hunger. According to the USDA, approximately 12 percent of Rhode Islanders, more than 56,000 households, experience food insecurity, the condition of not knowing where one’s next meal will come from.

To address the problem of food insecurity in the East Bay, Tap-In counts on the hard work of Barrington’s letter carriers. Each year on the second Saturday in May, letter carriers in Barrington collect non-perishable food donations from their customers at their doorsteps. These donations go directly to Tap-In.

Last year, Tap-In received more than 5,000 pounds of food from the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. Nationally, the drive collected more than 71 million pounds of food. Over the course of its history, the drive has collected approximately 1.67 billion pounds of food, thanks to a postal service universal delivery network that spans the entire nation, including Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

The need for food donations is great. Currently, approximately 127,000 – 1 in 8 – Rhode Islanders are unsure where their next meal is coming from. Nationally, 49 million people – 1 in 6 – experience food insecurity. Thirteen million are children who feel hunger’s impact on their overall health and ability to perform in school. More than 5 million seniors over age 60 are food insecure, with many who live on fixed incomes often too embarrassed to ask for help.

The food drive’s timing is crucial. Food banks and pantries often receive the majority of their donations during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons. By springtime, pantries like Tap-In's are depleted, entering the summer low on supplies at a time when many school breakfast and lunch programs are not available to children in need.

Participating in this year’s Letter Carrier Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive is simple: Just leave an unexpired, non-perishable food donation in a bag by your mailbox on Saturday, May 11 (the day before Mother’s Day), and your letter carrier will do the rest. Donations are tax-deductible. List Tap-In as the recipient when you file.

Another way to help: Sort and store donations with your neighbors on the day of the drive. Contact Pascale Lord at voldirector@tapinri.org to sign up. Three shifts will be available between 11:45 a.m. and 6:15 p.m. Donations of snacks, drinks, and desserts for volunteers are also welcome.