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SANDY — Food pantries across Utah will be able to help more families needing assistance thanks to all the food collected by postal carriers on Saturday.
The Utah Food Bank said this year's Stamp Out Hunger food drive comes at a critical time for families.
"We are still experiencing elevated levels of need in line with what we saw during the height of the pandemic, thanks to inflation creating tighter food budgets for Utahns," Ginette Bott, Utah Food Bank president and CEO, said in a statement.
Bott said 1 in 9 Utah children are unsure where their next meal is coming from and that the food collection effort by postal carriers will help over the summer months when school is not in session.
"Our biggest challenge is June, July and August — it's the upcoming months," Bott said in an interview with KSL-TV. "It's the months when all of us are doing what we do during the summer. We sometimes forget to donate or to volunteer, but there are families out there who really are in need most during that 90-day window."
Bott called Saturday "a very important day in the fight against hunger."
This year is the 31st year for the Stamp Out Hunger food drive, sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service, the National Association of Letter Carriers and the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association.
The Utah Food Bank leaders said they'd seen a drastic increase in people needing help this year as the pandemic-era boost to food stamps came to an end. In fact, April was one of the first months in recent years the food bank distributed more food than it brought in.
Utahns who weren't able to donate on Saturday can still help the Utah Food Bank by giving food, time or money.
