1. food and drink

Ventura County Letter Carriers to Embark on Charitable Postal Route for
“Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive Benefitting FOOD Share, May 9
Farmers Insurance teams up with Ventura County post offices for nation’s largest single-day food drive
(VENTURA COUNTY, Calif.) – On Saturday, May 9, Ventura County letter carriers will be caravanning
more than just incoming and outgoing mail; and community members won’t have to venture far from
their doorsteps to give back to the local hungry in a big way. The day will mark the 23rd annual National
Letter Carriers’ “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive –the largest single-day food drive—when thousands of
letter carriers across the country will collect residences’ food donations for their local food banks.
Ventura County residents are asked to leave non-perishable, protein-rich foods in a bag next to their
mailboxes for postal carriers to pick up while on their daily route. The donations will then be collected
from participating post offices and taken to FOOD Share’s distribution site in Oxnard.
Corporate sponsor of the local event, Farmers Insurance, will team up with the National Association of
Letter Carriers to provide funds, resources and company volunteers to support FOOD Share’s missions
of feeding, nourishing and educating the hungry of Ventura County.
“It’s amazing how much a single-day food drive can have a profound impact replenishing our
distribution warehouse’s shelves,” explains Bonnie Weigel, president and CEO of FOOD Share. “We
are so grateful to our local letter carriers who shepherd more than 100,000 pounds of food from around
the county to ensure thousands of children, seniors and adults do not go hungry this month.”
Since its launch in 1991, the food drive has collected more than 1 billion pounds of food has been
collected nationwide. In past years, FOOD Share has received up to 150,000 pounds of food to support
the 74,500 hungry individuals as a result of the single-day food drive.
One-Day Food Drive details:
When: Saturday, May 9, 2014
Where: Postal routes throughout Oxnard, Ventura and Thousand Oaks, or drop off a donation to a
participating postal collection center:
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East Ventura Post Office, 41 S. Wake Forrest Dr., Ventura
Ventura Main Post Office, 675 E. Santa Clara St., Ventura
Oxnard Main Post Office, 1961 N. “C” St., Oxnard
Thousand Oaks Main Post Office, 3435 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks
About FOOD Share:
More than 35 years ago, eight citizens performed a good deed by distributing food to those who were in
need underneath a Ventura bridge. The early philanthropic movement quickly formed into what is now
Ventura County’s regional food bank, FOOD Share, which has grown from serving a few hundred
hungry people per month to 74,500 people. Today, staff and volunteers distribute more than 10 million
pounds of food annually from two warehouses; more than 180 partner agencies, which include
neighborhood and church food distributions and soup kitchens; as well as hunger assistance programs.
FOOD Share’s programs provide healthy nutrition and education to children, families and seniors,
which include: Kids’ Farmers Market, SENIOR Share, Nutrition Education, Community Market, SoCal
Gas CARE Program and more. A 501(c)3 non-profit organization, FOOD Share is a member of the
Feeding America network, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization. For more information about
FOOD Share, visit www.foodshare.com. Find us on Facebook and Twitter.
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Media Inquiries:
Consortium Media
Alicia Rutledge, 805-654-1564 ext. 116
[email protected]