Humboldt County postal workers to collect Stamp Out Hunger food donations May 9

The logistics are simple, but the local stakes are not. Food for People operates 23 pantries across a 4,000-square-mile region, serves more than 21,000 people each month, and supplies nearly 100 partner agencies across Humboldt County. That network includes pantries in Eureka, Arcata, Fortuna, McKinleyville, Ferndale and other communities, along with community and family resource centers, tribal agencies, nonprofits and volunteer groups. Food for People also serves as the county’s designated food storage facility during disasters and emergencies, making each food drive part of a broader emergency-response system as well as a hunger-relief campaign.

The drive arrives at a time when pantry demand remains high and summer can strain family budgets even further. Food for People has said pantry shelves often face pressure after holiday donations are already distributed by spring, while summer break reduces school lunch access. The timing lines up with a wider affordability squeeze in Humboldt County, where a 2024 housing report found 93% of extremely low-income households were paying more than half their income for housing, leaving less for groceries, fuel and utilities.

Nationally, the National Association of Letter Carriers calls Stamp Out Hunger the nation’s largest all-volunteer one-day food collection effort. The drive has been held every year on the second Saturday in May since 1993 and now reaches 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. Since it began, the campaign has collected more than 1.94 billion pounds of food. The United States Postal Service says the drive is timed for the period when food bank supplies often run low and children no longer have access to school lunch programs.