When it comes to serving communities, the U.S. Postal Service delivers more than just mail and packages. The Postal Service is part of the fabric of the nation, and Postal Service employees make a difference in every community across the country.
Postal Service letter carriers collected 72.5 million pounds of food on May 10, 2014, from the donations of thousands of communities throughout America for the annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. This represented the 11th consecutive year the event has surpassed 70 million pounds and adds to the more than 1 billion pounds of food collected since the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive began in 1993 to feed countless families in need. Stamp Out Hunger, the nation’s largest single-day food drive, was launched in 1993 by the National Association of Letter Carriers and is supported by the Postal Service. Canned and non-perishable items are collected by 230,000 letter carriers and other Postal Service employees in 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam.
Each year in May, the Postal Service supports National Dog Bite Prevention Week. This public safety campaign builds awareness concerning animal attacks. Nationwide, 5,581 Postal Service employees were attacked last year. Yet of the 4.5 million Americans bitten by dogs annually half are children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Postal Service, the medical community, veterinarians and the insurance industry are working together to educate the public that dog bites are avoidable.
FY2014 Initiatives
Working with Valassis Communications, Inc., the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service implemented the “Have You Seen Me” campaign to demonstrate the power of the mail. The campaign has returned 152 missing children to their families (as of December 2013).
Each year, Postal Service employees go beyond the call of duty, some even risking their own safety to save the lives of the customers they serve. In 2013, the Postal Service recognized 262 employee heroes. At its annual heroes awards banquet in Washington, DC, this year, Greenwich, CT, City Carrier Assistant Jermaine Shirley received top honors from the National Association of Letter Carriers. Shirley was honored for catching infant twin boys who were tossed from a third-floor fire escape during a raging apartment fire.
The Postal Service, National Marrow Donor Program and Be the Match Foundation created the “Delivering the Gift of Life” campaign 17 years ago. To date, 59,125 Postal Service employees and their families have joined the donor registry.
National Consumer Protection Week – The Postal Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service dedicate one week in March every year to educate consumers about identity theft and other fraud schemes and provide tools and information to combat these crimes.
Letters To Santa – Since 1912, Postal Service employees, charities and individual and corporate volunteers have helped children and families in need experience the magic of the holiday season by answering letters to Santa. For more than one hundred years Postal Service employees, volunteers and organizations remain committed to making children’s holiday wishes come true.
