An annual collection of packaged food items carried out this weekend by the men and women who normally just deliver the mail, may be the only way to help plug holes developing in the social assistance safety net.
Saturday was the 32nd national Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive and letter carriers across the U.S. were gathered non-perishables to be distributed to those in need.
Why is this drive important? Richard LeBer, president and CEO of Harry Chapin Food Bank in Fort Myers, offered an explanation.
"We're going to be relying more on charitable donations than on other sources, because we think, and we know, in fact, that some of the funding and available food from government sources is likely going to get cut back. So we have to rely on on our other donor donations from other sources to make up the difference.”Richard LeBer, President and CEO, Harry Chapin Food Bank
LeBer said that that the drive, organized by the National Association of Letter Carriers, offers a convenient way for community members to support local children, families, seniors and veterans who are experiencing hunger.
"So this will be a very important aspect of that. Absolutely, this is an important program for us. This is our single biggest food drive of the year," LeBer said.
Harry Chapin is a food bank, which is different from a food pantry, and will distribute what is collected in the drive. And at the end of the day Saturday, that collection totaled 64,927 pounds of food delivered to the Harry Chapin Food Bank.
“Eighty percent of our food goes out indirectly, through other organizations," LeBer said. "So we have 175 organizations around southwest Florida that get food from us for free.
Foods in high demand include breakfast bars, canned fish or chicken, dry or canned beans, canned vegetables, pasta and pasta sauces, cooking oil, dry milk, peanut butter and jelly, rice and canned soups.
The National Association of Letter Carriers launched Stamp Out Hunger in 1993, collecting approximately 1.9 billion pounds of food nationwide over the years to help replenish shelves of community food banks. Stamp Out Hunger is widely considered the nation’s largest single-day food drive. In 2024, letter carriers collected 44 million pounds of food.
LeBer said the Southwest Florida Stamp Out Hunger collection is among the largest in the U.S.
The Associated Press recently reported that food banks typically see the most need during periods of high unemployment and yet the U.S. is facing down a hunger crisis during a relatively resilient labor market. The latest U.S. Department of Agriculture research showed there were one million more food insecure households in 2023 than 2022.
Income stagnation and rising living costs are sending wage earners to food banks across the country — all as the federal government shuts off funding streams that provide millions with healthier, harder-to-get groceries. The squeeze comes as Republicans discuss budget plans that hunger relief groups fear will deepen the crisis by slashing food stamp spending.
Food purchases are funded through the Farm Bill. Trump’s trade war has also generated more money for the USDA to buy food commodities under a 1935 program that dedicates tariff collections toward “bonus” food purchases.
What concerns hunger relief groups, however, is that the suspended purchases are covered by a different funding pot that allows the USDA great discretion when responding to economic disruptions. The first Trump administration put more than $2 billion of those funds toward The Emergency Food Assistance Program, or TEFAP. However, USDA is now reviewing $500 million allocated last fall for the program.
Federal commodities programs provide some of the most reliable supplies of proteins. Vince Hall, who leads government relations for Feeding America, said TEFAP-purchased foods account for more than 20% of everything distributed by the entire network. That number rises in rural communities — where the cost of reaching distant populations is higher and donated products are less available.
The impact trickles down to smaller pantries that rely on larger food banks. Funding cuts began threatening food availability in March.
The USDA halted $500 million of expected food deliveries and cut another $1 billion for hunger relief programs supporting local producers. The Department of Homeland Security also rescinded Federal Emergency Management Agency grants for local governments and nonprofits — including The Campaign Against Hunger — to shelter and feed newly arrived noncitizen migrants after their release.
“Secretary Noem has directed FEMA to implement additional controls to ensure that all grant money going out is consistent with law and does not go to fraud, waste or abuse, as in the past,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Over half of responding food banks told Feeding America they served more neighbors this February than the same month last year. Harry Chapin is a partner food bank to Feeding America.
About the Harry Chapin Food Bank
Harry Chapin Food Bank, a Feeding America partner food bank, is the largest hunger-relief organization in Southwest Florida and serves 250,000 neighbors monthly through its Feeding Network of 175 agency partners. In 2024, the nonprofit distributed 39.5 million pounds of food, the equivalent of 32 million meals, at food banks and mobile pantries across Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee counties. Harry Chapin Food Bank is an Agency Partner of United Way and a Blueprint Partner of the Naples Children & Education Foundation, rated as a Four-Star Charity by Charity Navigator and Platinum-rated by Candid’s GuideStar. For more information, visit HarryChapinFoodBank.org or call 239-334-7007.
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