Spring Valley Letter Carriers to participate in Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive on May 14

Spring Valley Letter Carriers are ready to participate in the USPS Letter Carriers annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. This event is the nation’s largest single-day food drive, having collected over a billion pounds of food since it began in 1993.

The event will take place on May 14 as many local communities are taking part and residents of Spring Valley will be receiving postcards asking them to participate.

Carriers in Spring Valley collected 4,300 pounds of food the last year the group was able to have a drive. For the past two years, due to Covid, the Letter Carriers made monetary donations to local pantries.

Spring Valley has set the goal of 5,000 pounds for this year. Spring Valley collections will benefit Hall Twp. Food Pantry, which serves over 1,000 people a month.

These clients reside in not only Spring Valley, but also Arlington, Bureau, Cherry, Dalzell, DePue, Hollowayville, Ladd and Seatonville.

Volunteers will be headquartered at the Food Pantry, located at 500 N. Terry St., as well as helping carriers collect donations.

The group asks participants to put groceries by their mailboxes or on the front porch early, as volunteers will drive around and collect groceries beginning at 9 am. Anyone who feels they have been missed can call the Pantry at 815-663-2085.

Though this is a carrier project in the Valley, residents in the giving area can drop off donations at the pantry Saturday morning. Volunteers from Hall Twp. Food Pantry will assist carriers in collection of the food items.

“School will soon be out for the summer,” commented Jan Martin, Hall Twp. Food Pantry director, “Which always means an increase in the number of families coming to the Pantry. With holidays behind us, the Stamp Out Hunger Drive becomes a very important food raising event. Thank you in advance to our donors and especially Spring Valley’s kind letter carriers.”