Letter Carriers' Annual Food Drive Set for May 13 throughout Nation

The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) will conduct its 25nd annual national food drive on Saturday, May 13.

The Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, the country's largest single-day food drive, provides residents with an easy way to donate food to those in need.

Customers simply leave their donation of non-perishable goods next to their mailbox before the delivery of the mail on Saturday, May 13. Letter carriers will collect these food donations on that day as they deliver mail along their postal routes and distribute them to local food agencies. Visit stampouthungerfooddrive.us to learn more.

The Letter Carriers' food drive is held annually on the second Saturday in May in 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam. It remains as important as ever, with many people facing economic struggles. Hunger affects about 50 million people around the country, including millions of children, senior citizens and veterans.

Letter carriers see these struggles in the communities they serve, and believe it's important to do what they can to help.

"It's an honor to be able to help people in need by leading an effort that brings out the best in so many Americans," NALC President Fredric Rolando said. "All of our food drives have been special. The fact that this year marks the 25 th anniversary makes this one a bit more special."

The timing is important, with food banks, pantries and shelters running low on donations from the winter-holidays and with summer looming, when most school meal programs are suspended.

Last year, letter carriers collected a record 80.1 million pounds of food donations along their postal routes. That brought the total since the NALC's food drive began in 1993 to 1.5 billion pounds.

On May 13, as they deliver mail, the nation's 175,000 letter carriers will collect the donations that residents leave near their mail boxes. People are encouraged to leave a sturdy bag containing non-perishable foods, such as canned soup, canned vegetables, canned meats and fish, pasta, rice or cereal next to their mailbox before the regular mail delivery on Saturday.

Carriers will bring the food to local food banks, pantries or shelters. Several national partners are assisting the NALC in the food drive: the U.S. Postal Service, the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union, the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, United Way Worldwide, the AARP Foundation, the AFL-CIO, Valpak and Valassis.

This year's effort includes a public service announcement with actor and director Edward James Olmos.

People who have questions about the drive in their area should ask their letter carrier, contact their local post office, or go to nalc.org/food, facebook.com/StampOutHunger or twitter.com/StampOutHunger.

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The 280,000-member National Association of Letter Carriers represents letter carriers across the country employed by the U.S. Postal Service, along with retired letter carriers. Founded by Civil War veterans in 1889, the NALC is among the country's oldest labor unions.

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