2008 Food Drive is letter carrier blitz against hunger
Letter carriers, with help from their sisters and brothers in the other postal crafts and thousands of other volunteers, will stage a blitz on Saturday, May 10, to combat hunger in America, conducting NALC’s annual “Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive in every U.S. state and jurisdiction.
The drive, in its 16th year, is the largest one-day food collection in the nation and the biggest community service effort by any union affiliated with the AFL-CIO.
“The food drive is the hallmark of the union’s tradition of community service,” said NALC President William H. Young, “a very rich tradition that includes numerous heroic acts by carriers as they deliver mail along their routes, the year-long campaign to collect funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and watching out for the elderly through the Carrier Alert program.”
On the day before Mother’s Day this year, letter carriers will focus their efforts on restocking the community foodbanks, like the Foodbank of the Virginia Peninsula and its member pantries, shelters that help so many Peninsula families who rely on the Foodbank throughout the summer months.
The union settled on the second Saturday of May for the annual drive since food bank donations tend to wane after the winter holidays. This drop-off is particularly troublesome since the hunger problem is usually at its most critical during the summer when school breakfast and lunch programs—often the only source of stable nutrition for millions of children—are suspended.
The challenge this year is especially daunting. All signs point o a deepening recession, and with gasoline prices flirting with $4 a gallon, more and more families—including those of carriers—are looking everywhere for ways to save money. This economic squeeze comes while 35 million Americans are experiencing what the federal government refers to as “very low food security,” a euphemistic way of saying people are either already going hungry or are worried about where their next meal will come from.In light of these conditions, President Young has asked each NALC branch to make a special effort to increase collection totals over last year.“The need is very great, with many, many food pantries reporting record numbers of men, women and children seeking assistance,” said President Young. “And it will only get worse if our economy continues to decline.”Additional information is available at www.helpstampouthunger.com.
The "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive is essential to our ability to feed hungry children in the summer months! So on May 12, please pack a grocery bag with healthy, non-perishable foods and leave it outside for your letter carrier. Details here.
May 13, 2006--Faced with the increasing demand for emergency food assistance and a major influx of hungry families during the summer months, the 14th annual "Stamp Out Hunger" Food Drive will be conducted on Saturday, May 13 to benefit affiliates of America^s Second Harvest, like the Foodbank of the Virginia Peninsula.
Donations will be collected by the local postal workers and later delivered to the foodbank.
