What:

New York City’s Postal Service, National Letter Carriers Association and City Harvest will host a press conference to announce New York City Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger, the annual week-long food drive in Manhattan and the Bronx that calls on New Yorkers to participate in helping to feed their hungry neighbors. The food donated during the drive will be collected by City Harvest, an organization dedicated to feeding New York City’s hungry men, women and children.

Representatives from the Postal Service, National Letter Carriers Association and City Harvest will join together to highlight New York City’s unique involvement in the Nationwide Food Drive and the urgency of providing emergency food for households struggling to put meals on the table. City Harvest provides food to some 600 food pantries and soup kitchens across the five boroughs which feed more than one million New Yorkers facing hunger each year.

Who:

Jeanne Traugot: Manager, City Harvest Food Sourcing, Food Drives
Charlie Heege, President National Association of Letter Carriers
Peter Fontana, Customer Relations Coordinator, USPS

When:

Wednesday, May 8 at 11am

Where:

James A. Farley Main Post Office
481 8th Avenue
Manhattan, NY 10199
(between 32 and 33 Street on 8th Ave inside lobby in the Postal Museum)

Details:

Beginning Saturday, May 4 through Saturday, May 11, with the National Association of Letter Carriers (in Manhattan and the Bronx), the United States Postal Service and City Harvest will join forces as part of the National Association of Letter Carriers’ (NALC) annual Stamp Out Hunger! Campaign. The food drive will culminate on Saturday, May 11, which will mark the nation’s largest single-day food drive.

District Manager William Schnaars for the New York District of the U.S. Postal Service said, “We want to give New Yorkers the opportunity to participate in National Stamp Out Hunger which is helping to restock food pantry shelves throughout the city.” 
New Yorkers have the unique opportunity to drop off bags of non-perishable food items in Food Drive bins located in the lobby of Manhattan and Bronx post offices.

Postal officials and letter carriers continue the tradition of setting up food drive donation bins in every post office lobby throughout Manhattan and the Bronx for a full week, unique to other parts of the nation where donations are only accepted on one day. In 2012, New Yorkers donated more than 55 thousand pounds of food through the National Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.

Donations needed are non-perishable food items like canned meats and fish, canned soup, juice, pasta, vegetables, cereal and rice. City Harvest will collect and redistribute all donated food items to emergency food programs throughout the city that provide assistance to individuals and families in need.

Anyone can visit any city post office in Manhattan and Bronx during May 4 through May 11 to drop off bags of non perishable food items into food drive bins located in the lobby of city post offices.

In 2012, drive organizers across the country collected more than 70 million pounds of total food donations for the ninth consecutive year.

The United States Postal Service, its Letter Carriers and City Harvest Food Pantries are a force united in this, the largest food drive in America.

There are more than 300 emergency food programs in Manhattan and the Bronx—approximately one-third of the approximately 1,000 programs throughout New York City. This year it is critical that everyone take time to think about your neighbors in need.

Right now, approximately 3 million New York City residents report having difficulty affording food for themselves and their families.  In addition, New Yorkers are making sacrifices to get by financially, such as reducing the intake and quality of food. Food collected during Stamp Out Hunger will help offset the rising demand for food.

The need for food assistance remains high. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual study measuring food security in the United States, nearly 49 million Americans, including more than 16 million children, are struggling with hunger.

In addition to the U.S. Postal Service, Campbell Soup Company, AARP, Valpak, the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, the AFL-CIO, United Way and Uncle Bob’s Self Storage are supporting the drive this year.

About City Harvest
Now serving New York City for more than 30 years, City Harvest (www.CityHarvest.org ) is the world's first food rescue organization, dedicated to feeding the city’s hungry men, women, and children. This year, City Harvest will collect more than 42 million pounds of excess food from all segments of the food industry, including restaurants, grocers, corporate cafeterias, manufacturers, and farms.  This food is then delivered free of charge to some 600 community food programs throughout New York City by a fleet of trucks and bikes.  City Harvest helps feed the more than one million New Yorkers that face hunger each year.