Help the Post Office 'Stamp Out Hunger' in Greenville County This Saturday

This Saturday, May 11, is the U.S. Postal Service’s Stamp Out Hunger food drive.

"Food insecurity" is defined as the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food. At least 61,280 people in Greenville County are labeled food insecure. In the county, 24 percent of all children (25,190) are food insecure.

And statewide, 18.8 percent (870,420 people) are food insecure, making South Carolina one of the worst states for security in the nation, according to statistics compiled by the nonprofit Feeding America.

Your mail carrier will be collecting canned and non-perishable foods this Saturday when your mail is delivered. You can leave a bag of food by your mailbox for pick-up.

You can donate “items like canned meats, fish, soup, bottled juice, vegetables, pasta, cereal and rice that do not require refrigeration,” according to the U.S. Postal Service. Please do not donate food in glass containers.

This is the 21st annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive. Since 1993, mail carriers have collected more than 1 billion pounds of food, including 70 million pounds in 2012.

For more information, you can follow @StampOutHunger, like Stamp Out Hunger on Facebook, or go to www.helpstampouthunger.com.