WHAT:

The US Postal Service in collaboration with West Side Campaign Against Hunger (WSCAH) located inside The Church of Saint Paul and Saint Andrew will host an event announcing the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC)  24rd Annual Food Drive.

Guests attending the event are encouraged to bring a couple of cans or boxes of non-perishable food to help replenish pantry shelves at West Side Campaign Against Hunger.

MEDIA:

The media is invited to cover the kick-off event and will have full access to film and interview speakers and agreeable members of the audience.  It is a great time to support the good works that West Side Campaign Against Hunger is doing for children, women, men, families and the homeless who if not for the help of the program would otherwise go hungry.   

WHO:

Representatives from The Church of St Paul and St Andrew
Representatives from West Side Campaign Against Hunger
Ruth Kraus, Assistant Manager, City Harvest
Kevin Crocilla, Postmaster, New York
Charlie Heege, President, National Association of Letter Carriers
Gail Branham, Customer Relations Coordinator, USPS

WHEN:

Friday, May 6, 2016, 10:00am – 12:00pm

WHERE:

Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew,
263 West 86th Street (Basement Level)
New York, NY 10024

BACKGROUND:

NYC USPS Mail Carriers are calling on everyone to participate in the food drive which helps to feed children, women, men and families who would otherwise go hungry. 

The Stamp Out Hunger food drive was created in 1993 by the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) to encourage communities to come together in an effort to stock the shelves of food banks and pantries nationwide.  The culmination event is held on the second Saturday of May each year. For 24 years, New York City letter carriers have worked together to contribute to the national food drive, delivering over 5.5 million pounds of donated food to help those in need.

Residents, businesses and visitors can easily stop in any NYC post office to drop off a few bags of canned or boxed non-perishable food items such as canned fruits, canned soups, canned vegetables and pasta, rice or cereal.  Food donation bins will be setup in NYC post office lobbies from May 7 – May 14.  With the support of fellow neighbors, the donations that the carriers collect will be turned over to City Harvest, who redistributes the food to hundreds of soup kitchens, food pantries, and other community food programs across New York City’s five boroughs. 

New York City Carrier’s Food Drive finishes on the largest single day nationwide food drive, May 14th.  The food drive is uniquely extended in NYC – starting on Saturday, May 7 through the culmination day, May 14 – so that customers can drop off non-perishable food in post office lobbies.  In the rest of the country, customers leave the food by their mailbox.  In NYC, that is not an option because carriers deliver mail on foot while pushing a mail cart instead of by postal truck.    

The need for food donations is great and the timing of the food drive is crucial.  “Food banks and pantries often receive the majority of their donations during the holiday season.  By springtime, many pantries are depleted, and as we enter the summer season supplies are at their lowest”, says Kevin Crocilla, Postmaster of New York.   The Stamp out Hunger Food Drive is an excellent example of how postal employees care about the communities where they work and live. The drive also speaks volumes about the generosity of our fellow Americans.

The Stamp Out Hunger food drive is held in 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam. Last year, letter carriers collected over 72 million pounds of food donations to be donated to their local food bank and pantries.

The AFL-CIO, National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, United Way, Valassis, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, and Valpak are all supporting this year’s Stamp Out Hunger food drive.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

West Side Campaign Against Hunger

Through a supermarket-style food pantry, West Side Campaign Against Hunger alleviates hunger and creates a culture that promotes self-reliance and works for change.  West Side Campaign Against Hunger changes our perception of hungry people by working in partnership with them, providing food with dignity, and empowering customers to find solutions.  Visit their website to learn how you can support their mission to stop hunger at: http://www.wscah.org

City Harvest pioneered food rescue in 1982 and, this year, will collect 55 million pounds of excess food to help feed the nearly 1.4 million New Yorkers struggling to put meals on their tables.  Through relationships with farms, restaurants, grocers, and manufacturers, City Harvest collects nutritious food that would otherwise go to waste and delivers it free of charge to 500 soup kitchens, food pantries and other community food programs across the five boroughs. 

City Harvest takes a long-term approach to hunger relief through its Healthy Neighborhoods initiative.  In communities with elevated rates of food insecurity, poverty and diet-related illnesses, City Harvest has developed programs and partnerships to increase the availability of affordable, fresh produce and inspire healthy, budget-conscious meal choices through nutrition education.  To learn more about food rescue, hunger relief and Healthy Neighborhoods in New York City, visit cityharvest.org.