Letter Carriers Plan Food Drive for May 9, 2009
Nation’s Largest One-Day Food Drive
Helps Americans Struggling with Hunger
On Saturday, May 9, letter carriers in more than 10,000 cities and towns across America, and throughout Upstate New York, will deliver much more than mail when they walk and drive along their postal routes.
They also will collect the generosity of their postal customers participating in the 17th annual Stamp Out Hunger National Food Drive — the largest one-day food drive in the nation and probably the world.
The effort by letter carriers represented by the National Association of Letter Carriers (AFL-CIO) — with the help of rural letter carriers, other postal employees and other volunteers — has resulted in delivery of nearly one billion pounds of donations to community food banks and pantries over the past 16 years.
“In these difficult economic times, hunger is an issue that must be addressed in every community across our country,” said William H. Young, president of the National Letter Carriers Association. “We see it daily out on our routes. That’s why now more than ever before we need everybody’s help to make a real difference.”
Food items should be in non-breakable containers, such as boxes and cans. Local letter carriers collect donations and deliver them to local pantries, shelters and food banks.
“This drive is a tradition entering its 17th year of success and has become the largest one-day food drive in the country,” said Postmaster General John E. Potter.
“Our employees will further demonstrate their powerful reach into each of their communities and how our assistance helps those in need.”
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 36 million Americans live in food insecure households, and approximately one in every three of these Americans is a child. Additionally, a recent survey conducted of Feeding America food bank members reported a 30 percent increase in requests for emergency food assistance.
As part of its support for the drive, Campbell will donate one million pounds of food to food banks across the country and is sponsoring a reminder postcard mailing sent to 120 million homes. That postcard arrives in local mailboxes early next week, postal officials report.
Also returning as a major supporter is Cox Target Media and its Valpak Direct Marketing Systems, the nationwide direct mail marketing firm, which promotes the drive on 40 million packets delivered to postal customers.
The Postal Service's Albany District reaches more than 3.5 million postal customers served by 720 Post Offices in an area that stretches from the Massachusetts and Canadian borders west to Waterloo and south to Binghamton and the Southern Tier.
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National Association of Letter Carriers
The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) is a union of city delivery letter carriers working for the United States Postal Service. The organization espoused four objectives: Fraternity, Fidelity, Benevolence and Unity. The Stamp Out Hunger! food drive is the outgrowth of a tradition of community service exhibited repeatedly by members of the letter carriers union over the years. As part of the drive, the nation's 230,000 letter carriers collect donations from homes across the country and deliver them to hunger relief organizations in more than 10,000 local communities.
Campbell Soup Company
Campbell Soup Company is the world's leader of making and marketing soup. Their mission is to make the world’s most extraordinary food company by nourishing people's lives everywhere, everyday. Campbell’s has been the principal corporate sponsor for the Stamp Out Hunger! food drive since 1997. As part of its annual co-sponsorship, the company helps print millions of reminder postcards for delivery the day before the drive and has played a significant role in alerting the general public about the drive through a public service announcement, web sites and other promotions. In addition, as part of its ongoing support for the drive, each year Campbell donates one million pounds of food to food banks across the country.
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS) is an independent establishment of the Executive Branch of the United States Government. They deliver hundreds of millions of messages each day to more than 141 million homes and businesses. The USPS has several outreach programs, including the Stamp Out Hunger! food drive, which seek to help and engage Americans across the nation. As part of its support of the drive, the USPS provides promotional materials to remind citizens to leave food by their mailboxes before the Stamp Out Hunger food drive.
Valpak Direct Marketing Systems
Valpak Direct Marketing Systems Inc., is proud to again support Stamp Out Hunger! and the letter carriers who provide on-time delivery of more than 500 million blue Valpak envelopes each year. Valpak will generate awareness for the drive as over 44 million Valpak envelopes featuring ‘Stamp Out Hunger’ will be arriving in homes 4/8/09-5/8/09. Valpak also promotes Stamp Out Hunger! on its consumer savings website, Valpak.com which features savings offers in many categories including grocery, dining and entertainment.