Letter Carriers’ food drive is Saturday, May 10

On Saturday, May 10, you can “Stamp Out Hunger” by joining with the Letter Carriers (NALC) union in its 22nd annual food drive — the largest one-day food drive in the nation. Letter Carriers collected more than 74.4 million pounds of food last year, bringing the 21-year total to 1.3 billion pounds.

All you need to do is collect canned goods and dry food, such as tuna, canned meat, soups, pasta, rice and cereal, and leave them in a bag or box by your mailbox.  Your letter carriers will pick them up as they deliver your mail (while you are at the Washington State Labor Council’s COPE Convention on Saturday.)

Donations are given directly to local food pantries. While most food pantries get the bulk of their donations around Christmas and Thanksgiving, the NALC drive is done during the spring, when many food pantries are struggling.

Also, since many school meal programs are suspended during summer months, millions of children are left scrambling to find alternate sources of nutrition and the food banks are a vital resource for families in need.

NALC President Fredric Rolando says:

Too many people in this country are still going hungry every day. As letter carriers, we see this firsthand in just about every community we serve. But we aren’t the type of folks who simply move on to the next delivery and hope someone else will do something about it. Instead, for more than two decades now, our members have taken the lead in the effort to help solve this ongoing national problem.

The nation’s labor unions are in full support of the food drive, says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:

With America still reeling from devastating unemployment, the 22nd annual food drive comes at a critical time. With the support of unions all across America, the NALC can set a record in collections, helping those who have lost their jobs and the millions more facing economic uncertainty.

After letter carriers pick up your food donations, they will deliver the goods to local food banks, pantries and shelters to help needy families in 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states and U.S. jurisdictions.

Click here to learn more.

This report first appeared at AFL-CIO Now.