Grand Rapids MI— Every second Saturday in May letter carriers in more than 10,000 cities and towns across America deliver much more than mail when they walk and drive along their postal routes. They also collect the goodness and compassion of their postal customers who participate in the NALC ‘Stamp Out Hunger’ National Food Drive – the largest one-day food drive in the nation and probably the world.
On Saturday, May 14, carriers will collect non-perishable food donations left by mailboxes and deliver them to local community food banks, pantries and shelters. Led by letter carriers represented by the National Association of Letter Carriers (AFL-CIO), and with the help of National Rural Letter Carriers Association (NRLCA), other postal employees and numerous other volunteers, the drive has resulted in delivery of more than one billion pounds of donations to community food banks and pantries over the past 18 years.
The U.S. Postal Service and Campbell Soup Company are major supporters of the drive. Campbell Soup has also earmarked an additional 1 million pounds of canned food donation to the drive.
The drive also relies on the backing of the National Rural Letter Carriers Association, the Feeding America food bank network; the United Way of America and its local United Ways, the AFL-CIO Community Services network, and countless local sponsors.
(INSERT NAME)Postmaster (INSERT CITY) said, “With many men, women and children living at risk of hunger please join me and many other residents of the (INSERT CITY) area by placing a non-perishable food donation next to your mailbox to help ‘Stamp Out Hunger’.” Some 35.5 million people face hunger every day in America, including 13 million children. This drive is one way people can help those right in their own city or town who need help.
All citizens need do is to place the food next to their mailbox before their letter carrier delivers mail on Saturday, May 14. The carrier will do all the rest. The food is taken back to a postal station, sorted, and then delivered to the food pantries in the local area.
The NALC food drive has received a number of accolades over the years, including two Presidential Certificates of Achievement. Additional information is available at www.helpstampouthunger.com.
Help the NALC and the U.S. Postal Service Stamp Out Hunger!
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A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $67 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 29th in the 2010 Fortune 500. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency six consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.
