MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The United Way of Monongalia and Preston Counties is ready to team with area post offices to help keep children from going hungry at night.
Members of the United States Postal Service will team with United Way MPC to host the annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, which will take place on Saturday, May 10, with residents not even needing to leave their home in order to donate. USPS carrier technician and event organizer for the Morgantown area Justin Jarman encourages residents to take part just by simply putting donatable food and toiletries in a bag that your mail carrier can pick up on his or her Saturday route.
“If people would like to donate to the food drive, all they have to do is bag up non-perishable foods and set it wherever they get their mail, and the mailman will do the rest,” said Jarman.
According to Jarman, anyone who wishes to donate non-perishable food items on Saturday simply just needs to leave donations by their mailbox. Once postal workers begin their routes at around 9 a.m. on Saturday, they will then take any bagged food items to their main annex facility not far from the Interstate 68 Grafton exit before a final distribution to area food banks. Much like in previous Stamp Out Hunger food drives hosted by postal workers over the past few years, canned food items are preferred, though other life necessity items will be accepted as well.
“We’ve also been known to take bathroom items too, because obviously, people who are in need of food may need things like that,” said Jarman. “But for the most part, this is a food drive, so that’s what we’re looking for.”
Morgantown area members of the United States Postal Service will donate any proceeds from city residents, as well as members of the Granville, Westover, and Star City communities, to a variety of food banks located in the area. Among them include the United Way of Mon and Preston Counties, Monongalia County-based organizations such as Pantry Plus More and Christian Help, as well as Preston County-based programs such as the Kingwood Apostolic Church Food Distribution Center. All donations will be distributed from the USPS Annex.
“From there, we take it to the local annex, here in Morgantown, it’s up there on the hill by Glotfelty Tire,” said Jarman. “From there, we have partnered with United Way and all of the food banks in the area, and we’ll distribute it.”
The 2025 iteration of the USPS Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive will not only include Morgantown area mail carriers but also other postal workers across the country. According to Jarman, postal workers from around Fairmont, Grafton, Clarksburg, and Bridgeport are among the thousands that will travel their routes on Saturday and collect donations from their local communities. With over 40,000 residents in the city of Morgantown alone, Jarman hopes that community members will take part in a good cause.
“And so right now it’s a crucial time for food to be donated because all of that stuff that was collected during the holidays, it’s starting to run out,” said Jarman. “So it’s a crucial time of the year for this event.”