英语播客 A Cup of English 371 A Food Drive?

What does a food drive mean? It's nothing to do with driving a car, that's for sure. You could also have a clothes drive, or a drive of something else. It is a call for donations, to put it simply. I received a plastic bag in the mail, placed there by the local postman himself. He, and many others like him, do a yearly food drive to help hungry people in our community. Everybody gets their mail, so everybody will have received the same bag. All the information that you need is written right there on the bag. It tells you what the drive is for, and that the National Association of Letter Carriers and the local Food Bank are working together to collect for the poor. 'Stamp out hunger', it says. To stamp out something is when you finish it, or do away with it completely. You will probably have heard the expression in other contexts such as: 'stamp out violence', 'stamp out bullying', 'stamp out racism'. To stamp out gives you a good visual for the meaning of the expression. I think that this particular food drive was well organized, in that, the information comes straight to everyone's home, in a bag that will be used to carry the food to the mail boxes, where, the next day, the mail man will pick them up. Very smart. If it is easy for everyone, then it is likely to succeed. The only requirement for the donators was that the food be 'non-perishable', which means nothing that can go bad easily. Canned foods, dry food like rice, pasta, dry milk, or dry soups, and boxed food are just those kinds of non-perishables. So, you simply pop whatever appropriate food you have in the bag, take it out to your mail box, and leave it there. The plastic bag will protect the food if it rains, and the postmen or mail men will take it from there. Somehow, there always seems to be something that you can give. A community effort to stamp out hunger. What a good idea!

Grammar notes.

Related vocabulary: to stamp out, non-perishable, to drive.

1. We are trying to stamp out dangerous speeding, by putting warning signs along the roads.

2. Non-perishable food is the easiest to transport because nothing happens to it.

3. He drove me crazy with his constant talking in the car.