Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Blue Ridge Area Food Bank Receives More Than 120,000 Pounds of Food from the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive
Annual letter carrier food drive collects food and funds to support community food assistance this summer.
VERONA, Va. (June 4, 2026) – Thanks to the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, the community united to donate enough food and funds to help provide 119,780 meals for local people and families facing hunger. The food drive takes place across the country each year and supports the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank locally. This year, generous community members gave 120,692 pounds of food and $6,401 to help keep pantry shelves stocked during the summer. It’s the largest total donation from this drive since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stamp Out Hunger, organized by the National Association of Letter Carriers, is the largest single-day food drive in the country, uniting communities in a shared mission to end food insecurity.
On Saturday, May 9, people across the Food Bank’s 25-county service area left non-perishable food donations by their mailboxes for letter carriers to collect. Volunteers positioned at local Post Offices sorted and helped transport those contributions to the Food Bank’s four branch locations: Charlottesville, Lynchburg, Verona, and Winchester.
The total pounds collected from each participating Post Office location are as follows:
- Charlottesville: 7,647 pounds
- Lynchburg: 30,599 pounds
- Harrisonburg: 8,470 pounds
- Staunton: 13,668 pounds
- Waynesboro: 13,903 pounds
- Winchester: 38,561 pounds
- Additional sources: 7,844 pounds
“Stamp Out Hunger makes an incredible difference to the Food Bank and the community,” said Kari Diener, CEO of the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. “The generosity of our neighbors, and the dedication of letter carriers and volunteers, ensures thousands of families have nourishing food when they need it most. We’re deeply grateful for the support from everyone that makes this drive so successful each year.”
When school ends for summer break, demand for food assistance often rises while donations dip. The Stamp Out Hunger food drive helps rebuild the supply of non‑perishable food at a critical moment, helping strengthen the Food Bank partner network as they provide groceries for neighbors facing hunger.
For more information on supporting the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, visit https://www.brafb.org.
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Media Opportunity: Blue Ridge Area Food Bank representatives are available to discuss the food drive. To schedule an interview, please contact Les Sinclair at lsinclair@brafb.org or 434-962-5403. Other media assets are linked here.
About the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank
The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank is the largest hunger-relief organization serving western and central Virginia. Founded in 1981, the Food Bank serves 25 counties and 8 cities through distribution centers in Charlottesville, Lynchburg, Winchester, and its headquarters in Verona. Each month, the Food Bank supports an average of 177,000 guest visits, reaching record numbers of Virginians through a network of 400+ community partners—food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and program sites. As a partner food bank of Feeding America®, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization, the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank pledges to continue innovating and adapting to secure, store, and distribute more food to more individuals, families, children, and seniors experiencing hunger. For more information, visit www.brafb.org.
About the National Association of Letter Carriers
The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) represents city delivery letter carriers across the country. Its 293,000 members make it the largest of the four unions representing employees of the United States Postal Service. Founded by Civil War veterans in 1889, NALC is among the country’s oldest labor unions. Since launching in 1993, the National Association of Letter Carriers’ annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive has grown into the nation’s largest one-day food drive, helping to fill the shelves of food banks in cities and towns throughout the United States. Donations are collected from postal patrons who leave a bag of nonperishable food next to their mailbox on the second Saturday in May. These donations help replenish food pantry shelves in spring and summer, when holiday food donations are depleted and schools are closing for the summer.
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Contact: Les Sinclair
434-962-5403
lsinclair@brafb.org
www.brafb.org
