Stamp Out Hunger
Letters carriers to collect food on May 13
By CHARY SOUTHMAYD AND SUZETTE PORTER
Article published on Wednesday, May 10, 2006  |
PINELLAS COUNTY - The National Association of Letter Carriers is gearing up for what is touted as the nation's largest food drive to combat hunger.
On Saturday, May 13, for the 14th year in a row, letter carriers will collect nonperishable donations as they deliver mail.
"Letter carriers see the silent suffering that hunger brings to millions of families in the neighborhoods we serve," said NALC President William H. Young. "Summer is a particularly critical time for millions of children whose school lunch programs are suspended until fall and their families must find alternate sources of nutrition."
According to a press release from the NALC, donations from postal customers will be collected by nearly 1,500 local branches of the 300,000-member postal union, involving more than 10,000 cities and towns.
All of the nonperishable food items collected in Pinellas County will stay in the local area, according to Keith Northup, who has coordinated the letter carriers' food drive for Largo, Indian Rocks Beach, Seminole, Pinellas Park and Dunedin for the past 14 years.
Beneficiaries of the community food donations have included RCS and Salvation Army in Clearwater, several food banks in Pinellas Park, Abundant Life Ministries in Largo and Aldersgate United Methodist Church food bank in Seminole.
Northup said a total of 340,000 pounds of food was collected in the immediate local area last year. Overall, the Tampa Bay area topped the list of communities who gave the most, with a record 3.4-million pounds of food, topping much larger cities including Los Angeles and Detroit. Across the United States, carriers collected a record 71.3 pounds of food during the 2005 campaign.
"It's an extremely hard day, but it's good to give something back," said Northup, who delivers mail on a Largo route. "People really are great. It's amazing."
More than 115 million postcards, sponsored by the Campbell Soup Company and the U.S. Postal Service, are being mailed to postal customers to remind them of the drive. Pinellas County residents should receive their postcards sometime this week.
The postcards will ask postal patrons to leave nonperishable food donations - such as canned meat, fish and soup, and cereals, pasta and rice - in a bag near their mailbox on Saturday, May 13, before their letter carrier arrives.
Food in glass jars or other easily damaged containers are not recommended. Food with expired dates also should not be given.
Co-sponsors of the drive with the letter carriers' union are the U.S. Postal Service, Campbell Soup, Cox Target Media, local United Ways, the AFL-CIO and America's Second Harvest.
The national food drive started with a pilot program in 10 cities in October 1991, according to information from the NALC. After receiving input from food banks and pantries, the date was moved to late spring, as that was a time of greater need. On May 15, 1993, the NALC began sponsoring the food drive on the second Saturday in May and encouraged at least one NALC branch in each state to participate.
For more information, visit www.nalc.org/commun/foodrive or www.stampouthunger2006.com.
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Article published on Wednesday, May 10, 2006
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