Community Food Bank has best donation drive yet | Community Spirit

The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona received a very generous donation, thanks to all the Southern Arizona residents who participated in the National Association of Letter Carriers 20th annual 'Stamp Out Hunger' food drive.

The drive, held on May 12 helped to raise some 873,232 pounds of food, including both pounds (weight) of food and cash donations.  With the help of Food City, the Community Food Bank was even able to recycle the 117,893 plastic bags that held the donations.

“This year was one of the largest food drives ever and a great success,” said Bill Carnegie, President/CEO of the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona.   “A special thank you goes to the National Association of Letter carriers for their terrific work and we deeply appreciate Food City’s partnership to recycle plastic bags in order to protect our environment.”

In the largest single-day food drive in the nation, “Stamp Out Hunger” and over 230,000 U.S. Postal Service letter carriers collect non-perishable food donations from across the country.  When the day is through the donations collected are then distributed to food banks and hunger relief organizations around the U.S., in more than 10,000 communities, several of which are in Southern Arizona.

“We always look forward to assisting the Community Food Bank with this drive,” said Tucson Food City Store Director Floyd Whetton.  “It’s rewarding to know that these bags will not make their way into our landfills; instead they’ll be recycled into useful things like playground equipment.”

Food City grocery stores in Tucson proudly and prominently display recycling bins with clearly marked Bag Central Station signs at their entrance.  Bag Central Station locations allow residents and visitors to recycle plastic bags that are not accepted in curbside recycling bins.