Help ‘Stamp Out Hunger’ on May 14

For the 19th year, the National Association of Letter Carriers will conduct its “Stamp Out Hunger” campaign, the largest single-day food drive in Washington state and the nation. This year’s food drive will be on Saturday, May 14.

Last year, letter carriers collected a record-setting total of more than 77 million pounds of food donations along their postal routes, pushing the 18-year total to more than 1 billion pounds of food.

YOU can help make this year’s effort an even bigger success. All you need to do is fill the food drive donation bag your letter carrier will soon be leaving for you — or fill your own bag, preferably recyclable — with non-perishable food items and leave it on or beside your mail box on May 14. Your letter carrier will take care of the rest, delivering it to a local food bank.

Donate items like canned meats, fish, soup, vegetables; bottled juice, pasta, cereal and rice that do not require refrigeration. Please do not include items that have expired or are in glass containers.

If you are not able to leave food items by your mailbox on May 14, you are encouraged to drop off contributions at any Post Office. Your generosity and the efforts of letter carriers generate so much food, that many local food banks need extra volunteers that day to help load and store food. Contact your local food bank to volunteer.

For more information, visit www.HelpStampOutHunger.com.

UPDATE: Pierce County Central Labor Council Secretary-Treasurer Patty Rose is on a personal campaign to collect JIF peanut butter for the Letter Carriers’ Food Drive on May 14 – because it’s made by union members! Peanut butter is a great source of protein for children during the summer months when school nutrition programs are closed.  Yet Pierce County’s Emergency Food Network does not purchase peanut butter because of the cost.

You can help Patty show all of Pierce County the strength of Union Solidarity by:

• Bringing a jar (or more) to the delegate meeting on Wednesday, May 11
• Collecting peanut butter at your Local and bringing it to the Labor Council Office sometime next week
• Urging your members (and friends and family) to include JIF peanut butter if donating to the Letter Carriers Food Drive from home
• Making a donation to the peanut butter fund and the PCCLC purchase it for you.

That goes for the rest of you outside Pierce County, too! Choosy trade unionists choose JIF!