Labor & Employment Law

Letter Carriers Deliver Another Record Food Drive: 77.1 Million Pounds

By Mike Hall

The nation’s postal customers responded with extraordinary generosity this year, donating a record 77.1 million pounds of food in the Letter Carriers’ 18th annual “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive. This year’s results topped last year’s record donation of 73.4 million pounds.

Members of the Letter Carriers (NALC) on May 8 picked up the donations left at mailboxes in more than 10,000 communities. The food was delivered to local food banks, pantries and shelters to help needy families in all 50 states and U.S. jurisdictions.

Since 1993, the NALC food drive has collected more than 1 billion pounds of food?1,059,800 pounds?to help feed hungry families.

NALC President Fredric Rolando praised postal customers’ generous donations and the NALC and other union members and volunteers’ work on the nation’s largest one-day effort to combat hunger.

Despite the lingering effects of the recession, postal customers came through again this year in the continuing fight against hunger in America.  Our members and the thousands of rural letter carriers and other volunteers were proud to deliver the generous donations from millions of caring citizens who wanted to help needy families in their communities.

Donations are particularly critical at this time of year because most school lunch programs are suspended during the summer months and millions of children must find alternate sources of nutrition.

Tampa [Fla.] NALC Branch 599 collected 2,062,529 pounds to emerge as the top local union branch in the country.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on June 01, 2010 (boomark / email).