WICHITA, Kan. — Wichita and surrounding area letter carriers will hold their 15th annual food drive on Saturday, May 12, and postal patrons are encouraged to participate by placing non-perishable food in a bag near their mailbox prior to mail delivery. All of the food will be distributed to local food banks whose shelves are traditionally bare this time of year. Last year Wichita letter carriers collected more than 120,000 pounds of food.

Postal employees in all 50 states will participate in the world's largest one-day food drive, which has resulted in delivery of over three-quarters of a billion pounds of donations to community food banks and pantries over the last 14 years. An estimated 35 million people are at risk of hunger in America, including 12 million children.

"It is our privilege to participate in this day of giving to help those who are less fortunate," said Pat Hill, President of Branch 201 of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), who expects another tremendous response from the caring citizens of Wichita.

The NALC is a postal labor union representing more than 300,000 members who have a long history of service to their communities.

"Our letter carriers are in every neighborhood six days a week and they are a big part of the community, so we take enormous pride in being able to help those in need," said Wichita Postmaster, Mark Talbott.

An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits 146 million homes and businesses, six days a week. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products, and services to cover its operating expenses. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $73 billion and delivers nearly half the world's mail volume.

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