Letter Carrier Food Drive May 10

Largest One-Day Food Collection in the Nation

After a long, cold winter, it looks like spring has finally arrived.  And with spring, thoughts naturally turn to…the National Association of Letter Carriers (N.A.L.C.) Food Drive!  The “Stamp Out Hunger” Drive, now in its 16th year, is the largest one-day food collection in the nation.  Cincinnati District has taken part in the drive from the original efforts in 1993. 

Letter carriers, with help from their sisters and brothers in the other postal crafts and thousands of other volunteers, hold this year’s drive on Saturday, May 10, in every U.S. state and jurisdiction.  The timing of the annual event is calculated to restock the shelves of local food banks and pantries as their stores are depleted.  This year, the Food Drive will be especially important as food and fuel costs soar and Americans experience the stresses of a slowing economy.

“The need this year is especially great,” said Jerry Giesting, President of Branch 43 of the N.A.L.C.  “Local carriers hope to meet this need by collecting a record amount of food.”  Food collected in Cincinnati benefits the hundreds of agencies supported by the Freestore/Foodbank.    

In 2007, the drive delivered 70.7 million pounds of non-perishable items nationwide to local food organizations—the fourth consecutive year the total surpassed 70 million pounds.  Last year’s figure brought the overall total for the nationwide drive’s history to 836.2 million pounds.  Food collected in a community stays in that community.

The success of the Food Drive lies in its simplicity—customers are asked to place canned and non-perishable food items next to their mailboxes early Saturday morning for collection by letter carriers as they perform their regular deliveries that day.

Supporters of the food drive include the Campbell Soup Company, the United Way, the AFL-CIO, Valpak and America’s Second Harvest. Locally, the drive is also sponsored by The Kroger Co.