Chippewa Valley food collections for the 2016 “Stamp Out Hunger” drive dropped off from last year’s record total, according to Tina Dunn, the local U.S. Postal Service coordinator for the May 12 event.
Dunn reported in a press release that 159,051 pounds of food were collected in this year’s drive, a decline of 11,554 pounds from a year ago. Eleven of the 13 participating counties reported decreases in the total amount of food collected. Bayfield and Trempealeau counties were the only ones reporting increases.
National “Stamp Out Hunger” coordinators are expected to report their totals in mid-June. This year’s national goal was to top 77.1 million pounds of food, which would break the Guinness world record for most food collected in a single food drive.
The annual event is organized by the National Association of Letter Carriers (NACL) and is supported in part by United Way. It is the largest single-day food drive in the world.
James Peters, marketing director for United Way of the Greater Chippewa Valley, said that no single factor was responsible for the local decline.
“The decrease in each county’s collection totals were not substantial, but when factored together they add up to a noticeable deficit,” he said.
He added, however, that in recent years the public has been encouraged to donate dollars rather than food. These dollars are not converted to a weight equivalent to what the money will buy and are therefore omitted when calculating the total weight of the collected food, he said.
:One dollar donated to a pantry means about $10 of food purchased through Feed My People Food Bank,” Peters said. “Chippewa and Eau Claire counties saw over $1,000 in donations. That’s $10,000 of additional food local food pantries will have thanks to ‘Stamp Out Hunger’ and our community’s generosity.”
All food and money collected for “Stamp Out Hunger” goes to local food pantries in the community where the food was collected. In the Chippewa Valley that includes the Salvation Army Food Pantry in Chippewa Falls, and the St. Francis Food Pantry, Feed My People Food Bank and Trinity Lutheran Food Pantry in Eau Claire.
“Stamp Out Hunger” takes place on the second Saturday in May each year, which is when food pantries typically are faced with low inventories just ahead of the usual summer increase in demand.