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Postal News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 9, 2002
Release No. 02-028
WORKING TOGETHER TO 'STAMP OUT HUNGER';
National Association Of Letter Carriers And Postal Service Team Up For 10th Annual Food Drive
National Association Of Letter Carriers And Postal Service Team Up For 10th Annual Food Drive
WASHINGTON - The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) will conduct its nationwide 10th annual 'Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive' on Saturday, May 11. U. S. Postal Service letter carriers will be collecting non-perishable food donations as they deliver mail along their postal routes in over 10,000 cities and towns throughout all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam.
Postmaster General John E. Potter praised employees for their dedication to provide mail services to all Americans, even under the most trying circumstances.
"This 10th annual 'Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive' is another example of our employees' commitment to the tens of thousand communities we serve every day," said Potter.
NALC President Vincent R. Sombrotto emphasized that the donations by postal customers will be delivered to community food banks and pantries that serve the area where the donations are collected-providing an opportunity for citizens to help needy families in their own communities.
"Despite the great resources of this nation, millions of children face hunger every day," Sombrotto said. "They are often in working families who have a never-ending battle to stretch their paycheck for food, medicine, clothing and shelter."
The NALC Food Drive is the largest one-day drive in the nation. Carriers collected 70.1 million pounds of food last year.
Making a donation is easy. Customers should leave their non-perishable food donation in a bag near their mailbox on Saturday, May 11, before their letter carrier arrives. The donation will be taken to the local post office and delivered to a local food bank or pantry. Postal customers in New York City are asked to take donations to their local post office during the week of May 6-11.
The U. S. Postal Service's Priority Mail Service and Campbell Soup are once again lending their support to the drive by sending over 99 million postcards to postal customers announcing the food drive.
Other partners of the drive are local offices of the United Way and the AFL-CIO, along with support from the United Auto Workers/Saturn Partnership initiative and Saturn retailers.
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Since 1775, the U.S. Postal Service has connected friends, families, neighbors and businesses by mail. It is an independent federal agency that visits 137 million homes and businesses every day and is the only service provider to deliver to every address in the nation. The Postal Service receives no taxpayer dollars for routine operations, but derives its operating revenues solely from the sale of postage, products and services. With annual revenues of more than $65 billion, it is the world's leading provider of postal services, offering some of the most affordable postage rates in the world. The U.S. Postal Service delivers more than 46 percent of the world's mail volume-some 207 billion letters, advertisements, periodicals and packages a year-and serves 7 million customers each day at its 40,000 retail locations nationwide.
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