OMAHA, NE — Residents throughout Omaha are being asked to help feed the needy by participating in a nationwide food drive sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers in conjunction with the U.S. Postal Service and THE FOOD BANK.
Omaha Letter Carriers, along with Omaha Rural Carriers will collect nonperishable food donations left by mailboxes along their routes as they deliver the mail on Saturday, May 14, to help stock local food banks for the needy, Donna Whitmarsh, President, Branch 5, National Association of Letter Carriers announced today.
This one-day food drive is part of a nationwide drive designed to fill food bank pantries through the summer months, when levels are traditionally low. Postal carriers from all 50 states and hundreds of cities will take part. This is the 18th year that the Omaha Post office has participated in this drive. The effort by members of the National Association of Letter Carriers, Rural Letter Carriers and other volunteers is the largest one-day food drive in the nation (and in Omaha). 77.1 million pounds was collected nationwide last year.
Thanks to the Omaha community last year, Food Bank for the Heartland in Omaha received 65,693 pounds of food. Nationwide the drive delivered a record 73.1 million pounds. Postal employees in all 50 states will participate in the food drive, which since 1993 has resulted in delivery of more than 1 billion pounds of donations to community food banks and pantries.
“We ask all residents to leave non-perishable food items next to their mailbox on May 14 to help make this drive a success and help feed the needy in this area,” said Whitmarsh. “It may mean a heavier satchel for our carriers, but the burden will be eased by knowing that our efforts will help feed families in need.
Food collected by carriers will be donated to the Food Bank for the Heartland located in Omaha. Omaha Postmaster, Keith Reid said the U.S. Postal Service is delighted to be a partner in this humanitarian effort. "The U.S. Postal Service touches the lives of all residents of the Omaha Area," Reid said. "We are pleased that our postal facilities and operation can act as a way for our customers to help others in the community."
Susan Ogborn, President of the Food Bank for the Heartland, said, "The Food Bank is very grateful for the dedicated effort of the Omaha postal employees and other volunteers in collecting food on May 14, 2011. The letter carrier drive is our biggest food drive and we need it because the demand for service from the Food Bank is at its highest in the spring and summer months.”
It should be noted that blue barrels from the Food Bank for the Heartland will be placed in postal lobbies to collect from those who are unable to leave food by their mailboxes on May 14th.
Background: Campbell Soup Company, the major corporate sponsor supplies postcards, magazine and newspaper advertisements, and will earmark an additional one million pounds of canned food to the drive. Additional media support comes form Valpak Direct Marketing which promotes the drive on over 44 million envelopes delivered to postal customers. The drive also relies on the support of the U.S. Postal Service, National Rural Letter Carriers Association, the United Way Worldwide, AFL-CIO’s Community Services Network, Feeding America, and Uncle Bob’s Storage. Generous support is also provided from Family Circus cartoonists Bill and Jeff Keane, who create a special cartoon to promote the drive.
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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.
