Chapter 3 Our Workforce
Community Involvement
Postal Service employees are committed to being good neighbors in the communities they serve, as shown by their efforts to help those in need.
Have You Seen Me Program
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), ADVO, and the Postal Service made changes to the Have You Seen Me? program in 2007. Photos of America’s missing children are now in full color prominently featured in ADVO’s ShopWise mail circular. Previously, the smaller, black-and-white photos were on a detached address label, familiar to most Americans as the Missing Child card they received in the mail. By featuring recent or age-progressed photos of children and their alleged abductors, Have You Seen Me? enables the American public to help recover missing children. As a direct result of leads generated by the program, 146 missing children have been safely recovered since 1985.
Combined Federal Campaign
The Postal Service joins other federal agencies in the Combined Federal Campaign drive each fall. In the 2006 campaign, postal employees pledged $40.2 million to charities of their choice.
Postal Employees Relief Fund
The Postal Employees Relief Fund (PERF) is a humanitarian effort administered jointly by the Postal Service and the unions and management associations. PERF is supported financially by postal employees primarily through the payroll deduction program of the Combined Federal Campaign. Since its inception in 1990, PERF has assisted more than 2,300 employees and provided approximately $12.7 million in humanitarian grants. PERF continues to serve a vital role in the recovery effort for employees living and working in all parts of the country. PERF provided valuable support and financial assistance to postal employees and their families throughout the country who experienced damage from house fires as well as property loss resulting from natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes.
Marrow Donor Program
Since 1997, the Postal Service has collaborated with the Marrow Foundation to build awareness of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) — especially among African Americans and other ethnically diverse minorities — and help increase the number and diversity of volunteers on the NMDP Registry. More than 30,000 postal employees have joined the registry and 30 have made life-saving marrow donations, surpassing all organizations — public or private sector. To mark the achievement, a special ceremony was held in Washington, DC, featuring a first-time meeting between a marrow recipient and the man who saved his life.
Annual Food Drive
On May 12, thousands of carriers and other postal employees in more than 10,000 cities and towns across America collected, processed, and delivered non-perishable food donated by customers. More than 120 million postcards were mailed to customers letting them know about the event — the world’s largest annual one-day food drive. Now in its 16th year, the drive has provided more than 750 million pounds of food to the hungry. Long-time supporters of the drive included the Postal Service, Campbell Soup Company, America’s Second Harvest, local United Ways throughout America, Valpak Direct Marketing Systems, the AFL-CIO Community Services Network, and cartoonist Bill Keane, who provides a special Family Circus drawing for the drive promotion each year.
Carrier Alert
The Carrier Alert Program recognizes that carriers can help monitor the well-being of elderly and disabled customers. A local sponsoring agency notifies the Post Office of persons who want to participate in the service and a decal is placed in their mailbox. Carriers will then be alert to an accumulation of mail that might signify an accident or illness, and notify appropriate officials. Participation in Carrier Alert had declined in recent years, but 2007 brought renewed popularity as New York City and other cities across the country announced plans to revitalize the voluntary program.
