Letter Carriers Food Drive Sets Record
WASHINGTON (PAI)--The Letter Carriers’ annual food drive for provisions for the nation’s food banks set a new record this past May 9, with 73.414 million pounds of food being collected, union President William Young announced.
Young said the total was more significant because not only are the hungry needy but many Postal Service customers hurt, too, from what he calls the Great Recession.
“This is an amazing testimony to the generosity of the American people even as they themselves struggle to make ends meet in these hard times,” said Young, who is overseeing his last food drive. The union president, who is retiring July 3, added that “Our members take pride in being able to serve their customers and help them assist millions of needy Americans, including many working families, children and the elderly.
“Letter Carriers, more than most workers, see firsthand how the sagging economy has hurt so many families throughout the nation. We are eyewitnesses to their despair every day.
“I want to especially thank the men and women of this union, who by their unselfish work and leadership in conducting this drive” -- NALC’s 17th -- “show why Letter Carriers are the positive face of the Postal Service and revered by customers all across the land,” Young added. NALC members have collected 982 million pounds of food in the 17 years of 1-day annual drives.
The collected food, picked up by Letter Carriers along their routes or amassed at post offices in major cities such as New York and Chicago, was distributed to local food banks. Several such charitable organizations reported receiving record amounts, such as 156,000 pounds of food in Valdosta, Ga., and 56,000 pounds in Butte, Mont.
West Coast Florida NALC Branch 1477, headquartered in St. Petersburg, collected 1,755,689 pounds of food to take top honors for the second consecutive year among the more than 1,400 branches that conducted food drives in every state and the District of Columbia. Buffalo/Western New York NALC Branch 3 came in second.
The drive was aided by longtime sponsors: The AFL-CIO, Val-Pak and Campbell Soup, plus promotional artwork from Bil Keane, cartoonist of “The Family Circus” and public service ads featuring The Harlem Globetrotters. Valassis Communications joined the crusade by mailing 85 million promotional wraps.
But this year, the White House got in on it, too. “On Saturday, May 9th, the Letter Carriers from around the country will lead the charge in the nation’s largest single-day food drive,” First Lady Michelle Obama said in an April 30 speech. “The drive is called ‘Stamp Out Hunger,’” she added in appealing for donations.