Annual Letter Carriers Food Drive Set for May 10 in All 50 States Nation's Largest Effort to 'Stamp Out Hunger'
WASHINGTON, April 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) announced today that the nation's largest food drive to combat hunger will be conducted this year on Saturday, May 10 in over 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states and U.S. jurisdictions. On that day, letter carriers will collect non-perishable donations from homes as they deliver mail along their postal routes. The 16th annual NALC National Food Drive to "Stamp Out Hunger" is the largest one-day food drive in the nation. Carriers collected 70.7 million pounds of food in last year's drive, the fourth consecutive year above 70 million pounds. The drive is held annually on the second Saturday in May. Donations will be collected by more than 1,400 local branches of the 302,000-member postal union. NALC President William H. Young emphasized that the donations will be delivered to food banks, pantries and shelters that serve the area where they are collected, providing an opportunity for citizens to help people in their own communities. Assisting in many drives are rural letter carriers and other postal employees, as well as members of other unions and thousands of civic volunteers. "With the declining economy, the need this year is overwhelming," Young said. "We have received reports from countless food banks of the record number of families who are seeking help as they try to juggle their budgets against rising costs of food and gasoline." "Donations are particularly critical at this time since most school lunch programs are suspended during the summer months and millions of children must find alternate sources of nutrition," Young added. Making a donation is easy. Residents are being asked to leave non-perishable food donations -- such as canned meat, fish and soup, and cereals, pasta and rice -- in a bag near their mailbox on Saturday, May 10 before their letter carrier arrives. It will be taken to the local post office and then delivered to a local food bank, pantry or shelter. In New York City and Chicago, where mailbox pickup of donations is not possible because of transportation problems, citizens are being asked to take donations to their local post offices between May 3 and 10 or to make an online donation to local food banks. Persons who have any questions about their community's participation in the drive should ask their letter carrier or contact their local post office. Over 120 million postcards, sponsored by the Campbell Soup Company and the U.S. Postal Service, are being mailed to postal customers to remind them of the drive. In addition, famed 'Family Circus' cartoonist Bil Keane has again provided special artwork for use in encouraging donations. Public Service Announcements featuring the Harlem Globetrotters are being transmitted to television stations, and 40 million envelopes promoting the drive have been mailed by Valpak. Co-sponsors of the drive with the letter carriers' union are the Postal Service, Campbell Soup, Cox Target Media, local United Ways, the AFL-CIO and America's Second Harvest food bank network. CONTACT: Drew Von Bergen of National Association of Letter Carriers,
1-202-662-2489,
