Twin Ports prepares for annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive May 9

One in three households in the Northland is struggling to make ends meet, and many are one unexpected expense away from financial crisis. That is the pressure Twin Ports leaders were pointing to on Wednesday, April 29, as they promoted the annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive ahead of its May 9 collection day.

The instructions are simple. Residents can place a bag or box of nonperishable food by their mailbox before 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 9, and letter carriers will pick it up and deliver it to local food banks and pantries. Volunteers can also sign up to help move donations, a reminder that the drive depends on a chain of small logistics working at the same time across neighborhoods in St. Louis County and the broader Twin Ports.

Sara Niemi, president of Head of the Lakes United Way, said rising grocery prices, uncertain public benefits and a recent local food shelf closure have made the need more urgent. Her message captured why this food drive matters beyond a routine spring collection: for families already stretched thin, another week of high prices can mean fewer meals, delayed bills or a trip to an already strained pantry.

The local push also came with a symbolic nod from city hall. Both Twin Ports mayors issued proclamations declaring the day Letter Carriers’ Food Drive Day in the Twin Ports, underscoring how the effort links postal workers, volunteers and residents in a single-day response to hunger. Because the drive uses mailboxes instead of a special drop-off site, nearly every street becomes a collection point.

Stamp Out Hunger is run by the National Association of Letter Carriers and takes place every second Saturday in May in more than 10,000 cities and towns nationwide. The campaign began in 1993 after food-bank input identified late spring as a difficult time for supplies, when holiday-season donations had often already been used. The first revamped national drive on May 15, 1993, collected more than 11 million pounds of food in one day, a U.S. record.

USPS says the campaign has now collected more than 1.9 billion pounds of food over 30-plus years, with donations staying in local communities. In the Twin Ports, the annual drive will not erase food insecurity, but it can help refill shelves at a time when demand is high and the gap is widening.