Islandia, NY - As part of the their annual effort to collect food for the hungry on Saturday, May 8, 2010, the Long Island National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) and partner U.S. Postal Service have joined with United Way of Long Island, Island Harvest, Long Island Cares, and the Long Island Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, for the largest national one-day food drive.
As hunger continues to rise on Long Island, there are now more than 300,000 Long Island residents suffer from hunger. More help is needed from all Long Islanders to help stamp out hunger and feed their neighbors in need.
Long Island’s letter carriers are praised for their extraordinary efforts put forth each year to collect food for soup kitchens, pantries and shelters across Long Island. Last year, the 772,200 pounds of food donated by Long Islanders supplemented hundreds of thousands of meals, bringing the total contributions of food since 1995 to more than 17.3 million pounds.
“The one-day food drive is a great statement of trust between the public and all of the letter carriers, postal workers, volunteers and emergency food program representatives,” said Walter Barton, president of Branch 6000, National Association of Letter Carriers. “We are successful because we understand the need, and we are committed to helping Long Islanders.”
“Long Island Postal employees take great pride in the yearly food drive,” said Ken Hale, District Manager-Executive in Charge, USPS, Long Island District. “Helping our neighbors is a very satisfying experience for all of us.”
How You Can Help
Donate. Support your neighbors in need and help to “Stamp Out Hunger.” Long Islanders are asked to leave non-perishable, food items on Saturday, May 8 next to their mailboxes for collection by their letter carriers, or bring food donations to their local post offices.
Volunteer
Letter carriers collect nearly one million pounds of food from homes across Long Island. This food is then brought to a warehouse to be weighed, sorted, packed and shipped to fill local soup kitchens, pantries and shelters. This task is a huge undertaking. As many volunteers as possible are needed on May 8 and from May 10 to 13. For information on how you can help or how to volunteer, visit www.stampouthungerli.com or call Island Harvest 516.294.8528 or Long Island Cares at 631.582.FOOD.
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 direct support from taxpayers. With 36,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, the Postal Service relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $68 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 28th in the 2009 Fortune 500.
