Letter carriers' food drive set for Saturday    

[MAY 13, 2005]  Local postal carriers will join their co-workers around the nation in the "Stamp Out Hunger" campaign. Carriers in 10,000 cities and town across the nation make this effort the second Saturday of each May. This is the 13th year that letter carriers will collect food donations while delivering on their routes.

The effort stands as the largest food drive in America, with a total 70.9 million pounds collected last year. In the 2004 drive local carriers collected 6,000 pounds.

The local pantry reported that there has been a large increase in use. This is likely due to the out-of-work Myers employees.

William H. Young, union president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, said that donations are especially needed in advance of the summer months, when millions of children who rely on nutrition from school lunch programs will be without that resource.

Residents are asked to leave nonperishable food donations in a bag near their mailbox on Saturday before their carrier's arrival time.

[News release and LDN]