17th Annual Letter Carriers’ Annual Food Drive Set for May 9

Posted: April 15, 2009

 

 

Cudahy WI -- The nation’s largest food drive to combat hunger will be conducted this year on Saturday, May 9. On that day, letter carriers will collect donations of non-perishable food placed near mail boxes along their delivery routes.

 

The National Association of Letter Carriers National Food Drive to “Stamp Out Hunger” is the largest one-day food drive in the nation. Carriers collected a record 73.1 million pounds of food in last year’s drive. The drive is held annually on the second Saturday in May in more than 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

 

Donations will be collected by more than 1,400 local branches of the 300,000-member postal union and delivered to food banks, pantries and shelters that serve the communities where they delivery mail. Assisting in the effort are rural letter carriers and other postal employees, as well as members of other unions and thousands of civic volunteers.

 

Cudahy Postmaster Mark Groshek hopes that this years’ food drive is the best yet. “Millions and millions of families are suffering – struggling to make ends meet and put food on the table,” Groshek said. “More than ever food banks, pantries and shelters need our help this year. Families are counting on them for support, and they’re counting on us.”

 

Groshek also noted that donations are particularly critical at this time since most school lunch programs are suspended during the summer months and millions of children must find alternate sources of nutrition.

 

Persons who have any questions about the drive at their location should ask their letter carrier or contact their local Post Office.

 

More than 125 million postcards will be mailed to postal customers to encourage them to participate in this year’s drive. The Postal Service through its “Priority Mail” brand is the primary sponsor. Other sponsors include Campbell Soup, Valpak-Cox Target media, United Way of America, the AFL-CIO and Feeding America (formerly Second Harvest).

 

Also supporting the event this year are celebrities Courtney Cox and her husband David Arquette. Both are active members of Feeding America.

 

 

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, six days a week. 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.