 |
Letter Carriers Food Drive Helps "Stamp Out Hunger" |
Letter Carriers’ National Food Drive
Nation’s Largest One-day Effort to ‘Stamp Out Hunger’
|
Youth Leadership Students to assist in the Valley Members of Valley United Way's Youth Leadership Program once again assisted Letter Carriers throughout the Valley with the annual one day collection held on Saturday, May 14. Youth Leadership members help to unload the Letter Carriers' trucks at the Spooner House in Derby and the American Red Cross in Ansonia. The students have been assisting with this program since it started in the Valley 11 years ago and they are pleased to have helped the Letter Carriers in what has become the largest one day food drive in the Valley and in the country. |
 Before |
 After |
 Youth Leadership |
Click here to see more photos
The NALC National Food Drive – held annually on the Second Saturday in May – has emerged as the largest one-day food drive in the nation, with a record collection of 70.9 million pounds of food in 2004, pushing the total for the first 12 years to well over a half billion pounds of food.
In the days before the drive, NALC President William H. Young emphasized that the donations collected from postal customers will be delivered to local food banks and pantries providing an opportunity for citizens to help the less fortunate in their own communities.
"Shelves at many community food banks and pantries are nearly empty," Young said. "There has been an increased demand for food from working families whose income simply does not provide enough for housing, medicine, clothing and food. Too often children are forced to skip a meal."
Young said donations are especially needed in advance of the summer months when millions of children who rely on nutrition from school lunch programs will be without that resource.
Over 1,400 local branches of the postal union in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam are involved in the 2005 drive, involving more than 10,000 cities and towns.
Participating in the drive was easy. Residents were asked to leave non-perishable food donations in a bag near their mailbox on Saturday, May 14 before arrival of their letter carrier. The donation was then delivered to a local food bank or pantry. Glass containers or out-of-date items were not included.
Over 110 million postcards, produced by the Campbell Soup Company and the U.S. Postal Service, were mailed to postal customers in early May to alert them of the drive. The postcards featured a cartoon by "Family Circus" artist Bil Keane. In addition Valpak, the direct marketing system, mailed 40 million packets to postal customers in envelopes promoting the food drive.
Joining Campbell Soup, the Postal Service and
Valpak as major supporters were the United Way of America and local United Ways, the AFL-CIO, and America’s Second Harvest, the nation’s largest food bank network.
