Letter Carriers Deliver Food Drive on 9/11

Call to Community Service Prompts Date Change for 22nd Annual Collection

Upstate New York—On Friday, the solemn 9/11 anniversary is designated by the President as a National Day of Reflection and Remembrance to be marked by community service.

To accept the call to action that resonates so strongly in our home state on September 11, the Postal Service moved its fall drive to this date. The one-day food drive is recorded with both the national United We Serve and the New Yorkers Volunteer registry of community service activities slated for 9/11.

Participation by the Postal Service was welcomed by the State.

"Letter carriers are the eyes and ears of our communities. They know the needs in our neighborhoods and have collected food in Upstate New York for more than two decades," said Susan Stern, Chair of the New York State Commission on National and Community Service and representative of Governor Paterson’s Cabinet.

"As citizens, we can take a basic step to serve our community by leaving a food donation with our local letter carrier this Friday. As New Yorkers, we can be proud to participate in a September 11th service project that unifies our neighborhood, honors the memories of those lost on this day, and begins a new tradition of service in our state and our nation."

Corporate sponsorship of a reminder postcard to announce the fall drive was lost, due to the economy. In response, post offices have taken creative efforts to support the drive are underway, working with schools, pantries, local elected officials and customers across the Albany District in upstate New York.

“Because we have staged a fall/winter food drive now for 22 years, we know that as kids return to schools the pantries are clearly depleted. Families who look to school lunch programs often turn to local pantries for a boost in the summer months,” added Edward F. Phelan, Jr., District Manager for the Postal Service’s Albany District. “And seniors and others on fixed incomes find that, with falling temperatures, they again face the challenge of heating or eating.”

According to postal officials, letter carriers in Upstate New York collect food donations at the mailbox for area pantries each spring and fall. The May food drive, coordinated by the National Association of Letter Carriers with participation by rural carriers, postmasters and other postal volunteers nationwide, returned more than 500,000 pounds of food in Upstate alone.

“It has been a tough year,” said Mr. Phelan. “It's time to help.”

The Postal Service's Albany District reaches more than 3.5 million postal customers served by 718 Post Offices in an area that stretches from the Massachusetts and Canadian borders west to Waterloo and south to Binghamton and the Southern Tier.