stamp out hungerOn Saturday, May 10th, 2014, 175,000 of the National Association of Mail Carriers across the US will be collecting food for families in need. Now in its 22nd year, the Food Drive effort is the nation’s largest single-day drive. In 2013, 74.4 million pounds of food was collected, which brought the grand total of donations to just under 1.3 billion pounds of food collected over the history of the drive. It all adds up! The need for food assistance remains a problem in America and in North Delaware. Find out how to get INvolved LOCALLY.

 

It’s Easy To Help

  1. Collect and bag non-perishable* food items
  2. Place sturdy bag by mailbox for your Mail Carrier to collect and deliver to LOCAL Food Banks or Pantries

*Donate items like canned meats, fish, soup, juice, vegetables, pasta, cereal, peanut butter, and rice. Please do not include items that have expired or are in glass containers.

LOCAL Volunteers Neededfood bank of DE logo

Get INvolved and help our LOCAL community for this year’s Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive hosted by the National Association of Letter Carriers. NALC’s Stamp Out Hunger is the Food Bank of Delaware’s biggest single-day food drive of the year, last year they brought in 231,942 pounds! With so many donations coming in at once, they need help in order to make sure every item makes it on the truck that day. Volunteers are needed at the LOCAL post office to help load donations onto our truck.

The Food Bank of Delaware has a few openings remaining for Volunteers to assist on Saturday at LOCAL North Delaware post offices. Job includes helping postal workers to unload the donations from their trucks at the end of their shift and then to transfer the donations on to a truck which will go back to the Food Bank of Delaware. Volunteers must be 16 years of age or older to volunteer without a chaperone. Volunteers will be on their feet for the duration of the shift. Volunteers must be able to lift and carry at least 25 pounds.  Check the VOLUNTEER NEEDS listing here.

PRESS RELEASE

WASHINGTON, May 1, 2014 /PR

Letter Carriers’ Annual Food Drive Set for May 10 throughout Nation

National Organizations Pitch in to Help Millions of Americans Facing Hunger in All 50 States

Newswire-USNewswire/ — About one in six Americans goes hungry or wonders where the next meal will come from. That’s a reality of life in the United States today. But another fact of life in this country is that people and organizations get together to tackle such problems and to help their fellow Americans.

To combat hunger, the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) will conduct its 22nd annual food drive on Saturday, May 10. Using the unparalleled postal networks, letter carriers will collect non-perishable food donations on that day as they deliver mail along their postal routes.

It is the nation’s largest single-day food drive, and 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.

Among the many local volunteer groups that will help are the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, National Guard units, American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, Boy/Girl Scouts, various student groups, local Rotary Clubs, local and state AARP groups and local United Way volunteers.

The Letter Carriers’ Food Drive never has been more important. The extreme winter weather and other natural disasters many regions experienced not only exacerbate problems in many communities but also turn some who typically give food into recipients of help.

“Many people in this country still go hungry every day,” NALC President Fredric Rolando said. “We are honored to be able to help people in need by leading an effort that brings out the best in so many Americans. Six days a week, letter carriers see first-hand the needs in the communities where we work, and we’re committed to helping meet those needs.”

Hunger affects about 49 million people around the country, including millions of children and senior citizens. Pantry shelves filled up through winter-holiday generosity often are bare by late spring. And, with most school meal programs suspended during summer months, millions of children must find alternate sources of nutrition.

Last year, letter carriers collected 74.4 million pounds of food donations along their postal routes, the second-highest amount since the NALC’s food drive began in 1992. That brought the total to nearly 1.3 billion pounds for the food drive.

Radio and TV public service announcements in English and Spanish are available on the food drive page of the NALC websitehttp://goo.gl/DAfoad – feel free to use them.

“The Postal Service’s universal network, reaching 151 million addresses six days a week, makes it possible for us to provide this critically needed assistance,” NALC food drive coordinator Pam Donato said.

On May 10, 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, peanut butter, 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, including many affiliated with Feeding America, which is a national partner in the drive, as are United Way, AARP Drive to End   Hunger, Publix,  Campbell Soup Co., the U.S. Postal Service, National Rural Letter Carriers’     Association, the AFL CIO, Valpak, Valassis and Uncle Bob’s Self Storage.

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

The 280,000-member NALC 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.

Photo – http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110406/DC78673LOGO

SOURCE National Association of Letter Carriers

For more information about the annual Letter Carriers’ Food Drive effort in your community, ask your letter carrier, follow the drive atwww.twitter.com/StampOutHunger or visit www.nalc.org/food.