Now in its 19th year, the Stamp Out Hunger effort is the nation's largest single-day food drive. In 2010, a record-setting total of 77.1 million pounds of food was donated, which brought the grand total of donations to more than one billion pounds of food collected over the history of the drive.

Unfortunately, despite the generosity of millions of Americans who have supported the letter carriers' food drive in previous years, the need for food assistance has never been greater. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's annual study measuring food security in the United States, nearly 50 million Americans are living in food insecure homes.

For more information about the annual Stamp Out Hunger effort in your community, ask your letter carrier, contact your local post office, visit either www.helpstampouthunger.com or www.facebook.com/StampOutHunger, or follow the drive at www.twitter.com/StampOutHunger.