Thanks to the National Letter Carrier’s ‘Stamp Out Hunger’ Food Drive held Saturday around the country, including in Selma, thousands will be able to receive meals at food banks.

The numbers in Selma alone speak volumes about this community and the way many give when asked to help someone in need. Roughly 6,145 pounds of non-perishable food items were donated during the drive, which is equivalent to 7,680 meals for the Selma Area Food Bank.

According to food bank executive director J.D. Parks, the amount collected is about half a month of meals.

The food drive works because it allows people to get rid of canned items that are filling up space in the cupboard and may not ever actually be eaten. Instead of being wasted, those items go to help those dealing with hunger.

The drive takes place in more than 10,000 cities around the country. Last year a total of 70 million pounds were collected nationally.

Selma is just a small part of that, but like in other cities, the impact of the food drive will be felt right here in the Queen City.

The boxes loaded down with items at the food bank were quite a sight to see Monday, but even after all those donations hunger is still a battle we have to keep fighting.

We’re proud of Selma’s effort in the food drive, but we encourage those with the ability to do so to continue to do more. Anyone that didn’t participate in the food drive or didn’t know about it can still check their cabinets for extra canned food items they can part with, because the need will always be there.