There are approximately 21,000 households in Alabama that have food insecurity.

What’s food insecurity, you ask?

According to the Center on Hunger and Poverty, food insecurity occurs “whenever the availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food, or the ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways, is limited or uncertain.”

Those households are comprised of approximately 66,000 individuals.

This past weekend, many residents of Selma joined with postal carriers out of the local post office to help alleviate some of that food insecurity.

On Saturday, May 12, U.S. postal workers in Selma collected almost 8,000 pounds of food for the Selma Food Bank. The food was collected as part of the nationwide Stamp Out Hunger food drive.

This year’s food drive netted 30 percent more product than the 2006 drive.

One carrier collected 1,450 pounds of food along his route in the Old Orrville area.

This food drive is just one example of how strong the spirit of giving is in our area.

Thanks to all those who donated, and to the carriers and the U.S. Postal Service for their participation in this drive.

We live in a land of plenty, yet there are many right here at home who suffer. Certainly, there is no reason one person in our area should be insecure about where their next meal is coming from.