Letter carriers set for annual food drive on Saturday

ALBANY — Every second Saturday in May, letter carriers in more than 10,000 cities and towns across America will collect the goodness and compassion of their postal customers, who participate in the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Stamp Out Hunger National Food Drive — the largest one-day food drive in the nation.

Led by letter carriers represented by the NALC, with help from rural letter carriers, other postal employees and other volunteers, the drive has delivered more than one billion pounds of food the past 22 years.

Letter carriers will collect non-perishable food donations left by mailboxes and in post offices and deliver them to local community food banks, pantries and shelters. Nearly 1,500 NALC branches in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands are involved.

“The annual drive is meant to feed the hungry and helps them get along,” Leesburg Postmaster Lori McDonough said. “Our employees get really pumped up and they just thrive on this … that they have an opportunity to help the hungry and do it through their jobs.”

McDonough said last year’s drive collected 10 pallet loads of food which was distributed to local food banks or pantries.

With the extreme weather experienced this winter by much of the country, along with the economic struggles many Americans face, the Letter Carriers’ Food Drive never has been more important.

“Letter carriers are honored to be able to help people in need,” NALC President Fredric Rolando said. “We see the needs in the communities we serve, and we believe it’s important to help meet those needs.”

Hunger affects about 49 million people around the country, including millions of children and senior citizens. And one in four households with a member currently serving in the U.S. military turns to a food bank for food assistance.

Pantry shelves filled up through winter-holiday generosity often are bare by late spring. And, with most school meal programs not available during summer months, millions of children must find alternate sources of nutrition.

On Saturday, as they deliver mail, the nation’s 175,000 city letter carriers will collect donations left by residents near their mail boxes. They will be joined by retired letter carriers, by family members and friends, and by countless volunteers to help collect and distribute the sacks of non-perishable food items that get left next to generous customers’ mailboxes that morning.

People are encouraged to leave a sturdy bag containing non-perishable foods such as canned soup; canned vegetables; canned meats and fish; pasta; peanut butter; rice or cereal next to their mailbox before the regular mail delivery on Saturday.