Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Thursday asked Arkansans to support the Arkansas Foodbank’s mission of helping feed the more than 250,000 people it serves by leaving food Saturday for their letter carriers to pick up.
The Arkansas Foodbank, which serves a 33-county area, and the National Association of Letter Carriers will partner to hold the 23rd annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, during which letter carriers will collect nonperishable food donations left in bags by mailboxes and distribute them to local food banks and church pantries.
“Everyone needs to get out from our isolated areas sometimes and understand the challenge of hunger in the state of Arkansas,” Hutchinson said. “Make sure we’re aware of the need, and then secondly respond to the need,” he said.
Hutchinson recalled that as a child his mother urged him to do his part in helping the hungry.
“We would pick up produce from our garden, we would take extra things from our pantry and we would distribute them in the rural areas of Arkansas,” he said. “Today, we are a much more urban society, and it’s a little more complicated.”
Last year 110,000 pounds of food were collected in one day, according to the Arkansas Foodbank.
Arkansas Foodbank CEO Rhonda Sanders said letter carriers will put in extra effort to pick up bags of food left by mailboxes on their routes.
“Many of them will spend numerous additional hours to make this happen for the citizens of our state,” she said.
Heart of Arkansas United Way President John Nazzaro said his son, a former letter carrier, told him plastic bags are best for donations. “It’s a lot easier for the carrier,” he said, adding that paper bags can break.
Letter carrier Phillip Isgrig, who is leading the effort in Little Rock, said being out in the community every day delivering mail has made him realize how many struggle with hunger in Arkansas.
“We [letter carriers] get the rare opportunity that a lot of people don’t get to see the need on a firsthand basis,” Isgrig said.
“It’s the easiest food drive you can participate in as the public,” he said. “You don’t have to get in your car and drive anywhere.”