Letter Carriers Food Drive Sets New Yearly Record; Cumulative Total Passes 1 Billion Lbs.
TAMPA, Fla. (PAI)--Say whatever else you want about southwest Florida, but don’t deny that the folks in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area are generous: Those two cities finished one-two this year in donations to the annual Letter Carriers “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive -- and the drive itself set a new record for collecting food.
The union reported that generous givers nationwide donated 77,132,180 pounds of food on May 8. That pushed the grand total for all NALC food drives since the effort began in 1991 to 1,059,800,000 pounds, union President Frederic V. Rolando said. NALC collected 73.4 million pounds of food, the previous yearly record, in 2009.
The food -- non-perishable items such as canned goods and soups -- all went to local pantries, homeless shelters, soup kitchens and other agencies that feed the poor and the hungry. And it comes just in time, food agency officers say: May is when the stocks of food they collected over the winter holidays are running low or exhausted.
Tampa Branch 599 led the way, edging out its neighboring Branch 1477, which includes St. Petersburg and other areas of Florida’s west coast. Buffalo’s Branch 3 was third, while Garden Grove, Calif., Branch 1100 was fourth, said food drive coordinator Drew Von Bergen, NALC’s retiring Communications Director.
Tampa’s Letter Carriers collected 2,062,529 pounds from their customers, Von Bergen added. Full totals for the other three branches -- and all other NALC branches in every state, D.C., Puerto Rico and U.S. territories -- will be available in July.
“Despite the lingering effects of the recession, postal customers came through again this year in the continuing fight against hunger in America," Rolando said. “Our members and the thousands of Rural Letter Carriers and other volunteers were proud to deliver the generous donations from millions of caring citizens who wanted to help needy families in their communities.
“You all were fantastic,” Rolando said of NALC members, who collected the food coast to coast, while delivering the mail, on May 8. “I’m sure there were a lot of sore backs and tired legs by the end of the day, but you all sacrificed for a good cause.”
Food bank directors loved the effort, and the results.
“It has restored our shelves,” Windsor, Colo., food pantry director Brenda Heckman told local media, according to the Postal Record. “We were running low on things, but we’re back in business now.”
“These food lines have grown in recent years and they continue to grow as the economy is still tight for people who are over-working, under-working and working just as hard as they can to put food on the table,” Hawaii Food Bank Director Polly Kauahi told local television stations, the magazine also reported.
Promotions and partnerships aided the food drive, Rolando said in thanking them. Partners included the Postal Service itself, the AFL-CIO, Campbell Soup Co., the Rural Letter Carriers, Valpak, United Way and the Feeding America food bank network. Promoters of the food drive included “Family Circus” cartoonists Bil and Jeff Keane -- with their annual special artwork -- and actors David Arquette and Courteney Cox, television host Ryan Seacrest, and drag racing star Ashley Force Hood.