Special deliveries fight hunger during annual Stamp Out Hunger postal food drive

WORCESTER — It took several blocks of walking, opening gates and climbing up and down stairs before letter carrier Marvin Gonzalez found bags of donated food Saturday, the second in May when the U.S. Postal Service holds its annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive.

Juggling the blue bags that were stuffed with cans, boxes and pouches that he had picked up off porches, Gonzalez made his way back to his truck and placed the groceries carefully in the back. He had handed out hundreds of the blue bags with the food drive logo along his route in the past weeks. Now he was collecting his bonanza.

The food will be donated to the Worcester County Food Bank for distribution to local residents.

As he walked, Gonzalez could almost predict which of the residents along his route would be making donations, picking out two houses along Walworth Street.

“She’s so nice, she always has water for me, says hello,” Gonzalez said of the residents at number 45. He had similar kind words for the residents at number 24.

Gonzalez, who has been a letter carrier for seven years, said he collected “a good amount” of donated groceries in the 2023 food drive and hopes to match it this year.

“There are so many nice people along the route,” Gonzalez said as he walked, making his way among the single-family homes and well-manicured lawns of Brownell and Lovell streets and ending up on Walworth. His route is primarily a walking route, with mail delivered through slots in front doors or into mailboxes on porches.

While the big collection day is the second Saturday in May, Gonzalez expects to be picking up the blue bags for the next few days.

Groceries collected across US benefit local food pantries

The groceries that are left for the carriers are collected from stoops, porches, front lawns and at mailboxes around the city, state and country. Stamp Out Hunger is a national program that focuses on local needs and billed as the largest food drive in the U.S., according to Tim Garvin, president and CEO of United Way of Central Massachusetts.

"We hope to surpass 400,000 pounds of good, quality food in Greater Worcester,” Garvin said. The program, he pointed out, replenishes local food pantries as summer approaches and children might not have access to free or reduced school breakfast or lunch.

Early morning at the main post office in Worcester, as carriers collected items for delivery, they were cheered on by organizers and volunteers and had a special visit from U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Mass., who cheered on their collection efforts.

"In the richest country in the world, there are 40 million Americans who are food insecure," McGovern said. One of his stated missions as a congressman is to end hunger in America through changes in federal policy.

But in the meantime, McGovern said "we all have a role to play."

Massachusetts is steps ahead of many states on mitigating hunger. The state has continued to fund a federal pandemic era program that offered free universal school meals. The federal allotment was terminated in June 2022 but Massachusetts is one of eight states that have continued funding the initiative.

It became a permanent program in the Bay State this year when Gov. Maura Healey presented it as a line item in her fiscal 2025 budget. Both branches of the Legislature have also included the $172 million program in their budgets.

“Free universal school meals in Massachusetts is good. However, kids still get hungry on weekends,” McGovern said. The pandemic-era measures enacted by the federal government lifted many U.S. citizens and children out of poverty and lessened food insecurity. However, policy decisions made since the declared end of the pandemic have reversed many of those gains.

Need greater than ever

McGovern noted that federal food aid SNAP benefits increased during the pandemic from $1.40 per person per meal, to $2.40 per person per meal. With the expiration of the aid program, those benefits have fallen to $2.08.

“The need is greater than ever,” McGovern said, adding that residents are making more and more demands on local food banks and food pantries as food costs rise. “We need to do better as a country.”

He called hunger a political policy decision, noting that the United States has the resources and infrastructure to grow, process and deliver the food. However, it lacks political will to eradicate hunger.

“There is no city, no town, no community in the United States that is hunger-free,” McGovern said, adding the food drive will benefit many people at local levels.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: US Postal Service conducts annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive