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Postal Workers, Food Bank Unite To 'Stamp Out Hunger!' Brooklyn letter carriers, in conjunction with the United States Postal Services, will join forces beginning next Monday with Food Bank For New York City as part of the National Association of Letter Carriers' (NALC) Stamp Out Hunger! food drive effort. The food drive will culminate on Saturday, May 10 - which will mark the nation's largest single-day food drive. Throughout the week, everyone can help Stamp Out Hunger! by taking non-perishable food items like canned meats and fish, canned soup, juice, pasta, vegetables, cereal and rice to your local post office. All food donations will be repacked by the Food Bank and redistributed to community and emergency food programs. There are 315 emergency food programs in Brooklyn. You can also donate by logging on to www.secondharvest.org/stampouthunger and participate in an interactive Virtual Food Drive. All donations benefit the Food Bank For New York City and City Harvest. "The food shortage in New York City has reached a crisis," said Lucy Cabrera, President and CEO of Food Bank For New York City. "Every contribution makes a difference." Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz echoed those thoughts, "Brooklyn has more soup kitchens and food pantries than any other borough in New York City, because we have great need, but it also shows that Brooklynites care about the issue of hunger." The rising cost of food could not come at a worse time for the city's soup kitchens and food pantries and the 1.3 million residents who rely on them to put food on the table. From 2004 to 2007, the cost of food at home has increased by more than nine percent in the New York Metro area (eight percent throughout the U.S.). Not surprisingly, the need for emergency food assistance has risen dramatically over the same time period. The number of New Yorkers turning to soup kitchens and food pantries has jumped 24 percent from 1 million in 2004 to 1.3 million in 2007, including more working households. No relief is in site. The cost of food continues to rise in 2008 - we have seen a six percent increase in the New York Metro area from January to March alone (higher than the .1 percent increase throughout the U.S.) - and the Farm Bill is currently stalled in Congress while New York families struggle to put food on the table. For more information about Stamp Out Hunger, ask your letter carrier or contact your local post office. Better yet, stop by the post office on May 5 - 10 and make a canned food donation!
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