Who:

Actor / Producer Edward James Olmos
U.S. Postal Service (USPS)
National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC)
MEND - Meet Each Need with Dignity
Los Angeles Regional Food Bank
United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)

What:

Launch 2016 Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive

When:

10:00 a.m. PT
Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Where:

MEND - Meet Each Need with Dignity
10641 N. San Fernando Rd.
Pacoima, CA  91331

Background:

On Saturday, May 14, 2016, letter carriers will collect food in every neighborhood across the nation to help stock local food bank shelves that are struggling to keep up with demand. This is the largest one-day food drive in the world. Over one billion pounds of food has been donated during its history.

Actor Edward James Olmos, along with NALC members and USPS officials, will get the word out at this event about how easy it is for everyone to help their neighbor by placing a sturdy bag of non-perishable food by their mailbox on Saturday, May 14. Letter carriers will collect the food for local food banks.

MEND Food Bank representatives will discuss the skyrocketing need for food assistance in the Los Angeles area, especially during the summer months. Nationwide, 49 million people are food insecure — living at risk of hunger and not knowing where their next meal will come from. Nearly 16 million children, or 1 out of every 5, live in a food insecure household.

Award-winning actor and producer Edward James Olmos — whose father was a Postal Service employee — was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. Olmos is best known for his acting roles in films such as Stand and Deliver, Selena and Blade Runner; miniseries such as The Burning Season and Hollywood Confidential; and TV shows such as Miami Vice and Battlestar Galactica. He earned a Golden Globe Award for best actor in The Burning Season and was nominated for both an Academy Award and Golden Globe for his lead role in Stand and Deliver.

A social activist, Olmos has been a longtime pioneer for more diversified roles and images of Latinos in the media. In 1997, he co-founded the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, and the following year founded Latino Public Broadcasting and currently serves as its chairman. Olmos also co-founded the non-profit Latino Literacy Now and makes frequent appearances at juvenile halls and detention centers to speak to at-risk teenagers. He has also served as an international ambassador for UNICEF.

Olmos has publicly supported the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive since 2013.