Food Bank of North Alabama, letter carriers team up to Stamp Out Hunger

HUNTSVILLE – The Stamp Out Hunger food drive has been running for more than 30 years, delivering food to millions of people.

And, it is is especially important this year as more North Alabama families, senior residents, veterans and children than ever before are struggling with food insecurity.

To help fight food insecurity across the region, the Food Bank of North Alabama and the National Association of Letter Carriers in conjunction with the United States Postal Service and the National Rural Letter Carriers Association will be teaming up Saturday for the 33rd annual NALC National Food Drive: Stamp Out Hunger. 

Letter carriers in Huntsville, Madison, Decatur, Cullman, Hartselle, Eva, Faulkville, Cullman and Athens will collect food donations left at or inside the mailboxes of homes along their routes.

Residents can leave food in the yellow plastic bags provided by mail carriers or use their own bags. Carriers will be collecting canned goods and other non-perishable food items. These donations will then be delivered to the Food Bank of North Alabama.

“We are thankful to all of our letter carriers who help with this drive and all the families who participate by donating food,” said Shirley Schofield, CEO of the Food Bank of North Alabama. “This is our biggest drive of the year and has a tremendous impact on our work.”

In 2024, The Food Bank of North Alabama distributed more than 15 million pounds of food, which is the equivalent of over 12 million meals, across 11 counties in North Alabama.

The Food Bank is the primary source of food for about 240 organizations in North Alabama, including church food pantries, soup kitchens, backpack programs, homeless shelters and domestic violence shelters.

Additionally, the Food Bank operates a robust system of direct services including mobile pantries, school pantries and healthcare partnerships.

This year’s Food Drive follows a highly successful drive in 2024 that resulted in 75,000 pounds of food donations being collected for the Food Bank of North Alabama. 

Stamp Out Hunger has become the largest one-day food drive in the nation. As the need and costs have increased, the Food Bank has seen a loss in federal programs that supply vital food, making this year’s drive crucial to ensuring our neighbors have access to nutritious meals.

“This is the easiest way to help out the Food Bank’s efforts,” said Joshua Matthews, chief operations officer at the Food Bank of North Alabama. “It also helps us provide food for kids, we always see an uptick in need during the summer months because kids are out of schools, so they’re not receiving free and reduced lunch at school and not getting those meals.”