FOOD Share to receive special delivery during 2012 ‘Stamp Out Hunger' food drive

May 2, 2012 - PRLog -- (VENTURA COUNTY, CALIF.) -- On Saturday, May 12, Ventura County letter carriers will collect more than just outgoing mail when they travel along their daily postal routes.

Hundreds of local letter carriers, participating in the 2012 Stamp Out Hunger food drive, will also collect community food donations destined for FOOD Share, Ventura County’s regional food bank.

Each year, on the second Saturday in May, the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) hosts Stamp Out Hunger, the nation’s largest one-day food drive, in over 10,000 cities and towns across the country. Now in its 20th year, Stamp Out Hunger has generated more than 1.1 billion pounds of food for the hungry.

In Ventura County, residents in Oxnard, Ventura and Thousand Oaks are encouraged to place non-perishable, protein-rich foods in a bag next to their mailboxes for postal carriers to pick up when they deliver the mail. The donations will be taken to temporary food sorting stations at participating postal collection centers, sorted by volunteers and will ultimately be delivered to FOOD Share’s Oxnard warehouse distribution center to help feed more than 74,500 hungry people each month.

For the third year, Farmers Insurance, Stamp Out Hunger supporting sponsor, has teamed up with the NALC to provide funds, resources and company volunteers to help process the thousands of pounds of collected food. FOOD Share and Farmers have set the aggressive goals for Ventura County and hope to collect 150,000 pounds of food during this year’s Stamp Out hunger drive.

“Please donate a few cans during Stamp Out Hunger and help FOOD Share restock its shelves and feed a growing number of hungry friends in Ventura County,” said Bonnie Weigel, FOOD Share president and CEO. “This year, with continued high unemployment, rising gas prices and cuts to federal nutrition programs, the need is great. More people than ever before are struggling to make ends meet and feed their families.”

One-Day Food Drive details:
When:   One day – Saturday, May 12, 2012
Where:  Postal routes throughout Oxnard, Ventura and Thousand Oaks or drop off a donation to a participating postal collection center:

East Ventura Post Office, 41 S. Wake Forrest Dr., Ventura                  
Ventura Main Post Office, 675 E. Santa Clara St., Ventura
Oxnard Main Post Office, 1961 N. “C” St., Oxnard                          
Thousand Oaks Main Post Office, 3435 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks

What to donate:
Non-perishable food items such as canned soup, vegetables, meats, spaghetti sauce, peanut butter, pasta, rice, beans and cereal.


About FOOD Share
FOOD Share, Ventura County’s only regional food bank, distributes millions of pounds of food each year to those in need. FOOD Share provides food year-round to more than 74,500 Ventura County children, adults, seniors and families each month via more than 150 Ventura County pantry partner agencies and multiple programs.

FOOD Share’s many programs include the Senior Brown Bag supplemental nutrition program that provides supplemental groceries to nearly 2,000 low income seniors throughout Ventura County, the Senior Nutrition Program providing home delivered meals to homebound seniors in Oxnard and Ventura, and the Kids’ Farmers’ Markets that offer nutrition education, healthy recipe preparation, taste testing and a farmers’ market free fresh produce “shopping experience” to children in Ventura County afterschool programs.

In 2011, FOOD Share partnered with Ventura County’s Human Services Agency to provide expanded CalFresh enrollment assistance. CalFresh, formerly called food stamps, is the largest federal nutrition assistance program that provides supplemental nutrition assistance to eligible Ventura County residents.

For more information: call (805) 983-7100 or go to www.foodshare.com