Letter Carriers fight hunger this Saturday, May 10

Nation’s largest food drive helps millions of Americans in need

SEATTLE – This Saturday, May 10, letter carriers in more than 10,000 cities and towns across America will collect non-perishable food items donated by customers. They will be participating in the 16th annual National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Food Drive—the largest annual one-day food drive in the world. Postal employees in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands will collect food and deliver it to local community food banks, pantries and shelters.

“Hunger remains a daily challenge for millions of people in this country. An estimated four percent of Americans – many of them children – are forced to skip meals, eat too little, or even go without food for an entire day,” said Postmaster General John E. Potter. “We welcome the opportunity to help in the fight against hunger. Once again we ask every American to remember the less fortunate on Saturday, May 10.”

Over 1.5 million pounds of food were collected in the Postal Service’s Seattle District last year. Nationwide, the 2007 drive collected over 70 million pounds of food for the hungry, making the total amount of donations to community food banks and pantries from the NALC Food Drive over the last 15 years to over three-quarters of a billion pounds.

Customers are asked to place non-perishable food items next to their mailbox before their letter carrier delivers the mail on Saturday, May 10. The letter carrier will do the rest, taking the food to the Post Office where it is sorted and delivered to an area food bank or pantry.

An estimated 35 million people face hunger every day in America, including more than 12 million children. This drive is one way to help those right in their own city or town who need help.

Long-time supporters of the drive include the U.S. Postal Service, Campbell Soup Company, America’s Second Harvest, Cox Target Media, local United Way affiliates, and the AFL-CIO Community Services Network. The drive is an outgrowth of the tradition of community service letter carriers have established over the years, whether watching over the elderly through the Carrier Alert program, assisting the American Red Cross during times of disaster or rescuing victims of fires, crime and other mishaps.

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An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits every address in the nation — 146 million homes and businesses. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses, not tax dollars. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.