Nation's Letter Carriers Prepare for 50-State Food Drive Saturday

[Zenlitened]

Press release:

Nation's Letter Carriers Prepare for 50-State Food Drive Saturday
America's Largest One-day Effort to 'Stamp Out Hunger'

WASHINGTON, May 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Letter carriers across the country will collect non-perishable food donations Saturday (May 12) as they deliver mail along their postal routes in the nation's largest one-day effort to combat hunger in America.

Sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers (AFL-CIO) with the assistance of thousands of rural letter carriers, the 15th anniversary drive hopes to exceed last year's 70.5 million pounds of food delivered to community food banks, pantries and shelters.

"With donations from our postal customers, we can help millions of Americans have a better and more nutritional summer for themselves and their families," said NALC President William H. Young.

Donations will be collected in over 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and the District of Columbia. Residents are asked to leave non-perishable food donations -- such as canned meat and fish, soup, cereals, pasta and rice -- in a bag near their mailbox on Saturday before their letter carrier arrives. Glass containers should be avoided. (In Chicago and New York City, residents are asked to take their donation to their local post office.)

Over 120 million postcards, sponsored by the Campbell Soup Co. and the U.S. Postal Service, have been mailed to postal customers to remind them of the drive. If a resident did not receive a postcard, they should check with their local post office for information about the drive.

Co-sponsors with the NALC are the U.S. Postal Service, Campbell Soup, Cox Target Media, United Way of America, the AFL-CIO and America's Second Harvest.

SOURCE National Association of Letter Carriers
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-10-2007/0004585702&EDATE=

More info at: http://www.helpstampouthunger.com/

[Sapphire Blue]

1. K&R

[Zenlitened]

2. Shameless self-kick for a good* cause

*Once you recover from the wave of cynicism that sweeps over you... on learning that the canned-goods drive is sponsored, in part, by the Campbell Soup Co. :eyes:

Oh well. At least the Post Office isn't asking us to mail the cans in.

[burrowowl]

3. K&R

[Gormy Cuss]

4. kick n/t

[Zenlitened]

5. Shameless self-kick 2.0

[Lars39]

6. K&R

:kick:

[Sapphire Blue]

7. Please, someone give this thread another R... let's get it to the Greatest Page!

:kick:

[Zenlitened]

13. Thanks for rallying the DU troops!

:hi:

[gollygee]

8. I've got a bag of canned food ready for tomorrow!

K&R

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. Way cool. My Dad was a letter rural route driver for a very long time.

Just retired not too long ago.

[wryter2000]

10. I haven't gotten anything from my letter carrier

Usually, they notify us.

[Sapphire Blue]

11. NALC Food Drive link:

15th Annual Food Drive Set for May 12: http://www.nalc.org/commun/foodrive/

[Zenlitened]

12. Hmmm... might want to give a quick call to your post office branch.

...If a resident did not receive a postcard, they should check with their local post office for information about the drive.

Hope they're participating! :)

[Lone_Star_Dem]

19. Some don't

Mine says they're unable to due to the rural routes the carriers cover. They did say they were encouraging people who called to drop off at the food pantry in town however.

[blondie58]

22. Yep, Saturday will be a busy day for us

I am an active carrier (NALC Branch #47)

You probably just haven't received a card yet- or your carrier forgot your individual house. I have known carriers in past years who selfishly refused to participate.

One was a scab and did not want to support the union. A second was just lazy, imho. It does make for a harder day- sometimes people are so generous.

We've been told that the food banks supplies are starting to dwindle and children who normally get their 'big' meal at school are out for the summer, so families are greatly in need of food.

THANK YOU ALL for your participation. It means a lot.

[rasputin1952]

24. Thanks for the heads up...I din't get my card...

:(

But I'll set out about 10 cans of stuff other than corn and pumpkin...:)

[musette_sf]

14. thank you for the reminder n/t

[ceile]

15. Got my bag ready to go.

It couldn't possibly be any easier. They even leave a brwon paper bag a few days before hand for you to use.

[tblue37]

16. K&R

Thanks for the reminder. It's the end of the semester and I have been very busy grading papers and having conferences with students. I would have forgotten to go to the store today without this reminder. I like to do a shopping to fill a bag with appropriate goods, rather than just grabbing what is on my shelves--especially since my own shelves are pretty bare from lack of time.

[acmavm]

17. K&R. Good for the Postal Service and its workers.

They are to be commended.

[Fresh_Start]

18. thx for reminder.

I put the bag out today.
I think in prior years they did some early pickup

[blondie58]

23. we usually pick up both before and

after the food drive! But ideally, the 12th is the best day!

[bananas]

20. k&r nt

[Monkeyman]

21. K&R