Stamp Out Hunger food drive set for May 9 in Logan County

Sterling mailboxes will turn into collection points on May 9 when letter carriers pick up canned, packaged and other non-perishable food left by 9 a.m. for Stamp Out Hunger, the annual drive that will send donations to Cooperating Ministry of Logan County food programs.

The one-day effort, organized by the National Association of Letter Carriers, is billed as the nation’s largest all-volunteer food drive and will reach 10,000 cities and towns nationwide. Since 1993, it has collected more than 1.9 billion pounds of food, and the revamped 1993 drive set a U.S. one-day record with more than 11 million pounds collected. The second-Saturday-in-May timing was chosen because food banks often see donations taper after the holiday season has passed.

That timing matters in Logan County, where Cooperating Ministry of Logan County has been serving residents since 1981, when it was founded by the Logan County Ministerial Alliance. The nonprofit now centers its food assistance around four programs: a food pantry, TEFAP, a mobile food pantry and a Christmas Basket Program. The mobile food pantry is held the fourth Tuesday of every month at the Logan County Fairgrounds, and TEFAP is available the first Tuesday of each month for households that qualify by income.

Local donations have made a measurable difference before. Nearly 5,500 pounds of food were collected for Cooperating Ministries of Logan County in a previous drive, showing how quickly a single neighborhood pickup day can turn into stock on pantry shelves in Sterling. For families relying on the ministry’s pantry network, the food that leaves a porch on May 9 is likely to end up helping neighbors close to home, not somewhere far away.

The Sterling Journal-Advocate has tracked the drive for years, underscoring how familiar the pickup has become across the county. This year, the formula stays simple: set out non-perishable items early, let the mail carrier do the rest, and help refill the local emergency food system before summer demand changes again.