The Letter Carriers (NALC) will be holding its 21st annual “Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive on May 11. The food drive is the largest annual food collection day in the United States. In 2012, the drive collected more than 70 million pounds of food and it has collected nearly 1.2 billion pounds of food since it began in 1993.

This is a cross-post by Kelsey Duckett from Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 11 in Commerce, Calif., on their participation in this year’s Letter Carriers "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive.

Across the United States, 50 million adults and 17 million children lack sufficient food every single day. To combat this, the Letter Carriers (NALC), for the past 20 years, has collected and donated food from mailboxes across the country. For the second consecutive year, IBEW Local 11 donated its Electrical Training Center in Commerce as the home base for all donated and collected food in Los Angeles County.

The Letter Carriers (NALC) 20th annual food drive was another huge success. As of this week, NALC members collected more than 70.5 million pounds of food during the union's Stamp Out Hunger drive May 12, but with the tallies still coming in, this year’s total tops last year’s 70.2 million pounds.

Letter Carriers (NALC) around the nation Saturday collected millions of pounds of food for families in need during the union’s 20th annual “Stamp Out Hunger Food” drive. An official total isn’t available yet, but the NALC is hoping to best last year’s total of more than 70 million pounds.

This Saturday, you can “Stamp Out Hunger” by joining with the Letter Carriers (NALC) in their 20th annual food drive—the largest one-day food drive in the nation. Last year Letter Carriers collected more than 70 million pounds of food. All you need to do is collect canned goods and dry food, such as tuna, canned meat, soups, pasta, rice and cereal, and leave them in a bag or box by your mailbox. Your letter carriers will pick them up as they deliver your mail.

Mike Peters, AFL-CIO community services liaison for the Northwest Iowa Labor Council, reports on the Siouxland Food Bank.

This past Labor Day, the Northwest Iowa Central Labor Council presented a check for $6,000 to the Food Bank of Siouxland in Sioux City, Iowa. The donation comes as the need for food bank programs are growing. The donation will help the food bank’s Back Pack program, which provides  nourishing snacks for children who qualify for free or reduced lunches in our school system to take home on the weekends. In some cases, this may be the only thing the kids have to eat over a weekend.

The May 14 effort to “Stamp Out Hunger”  was a smashing success. Thousands of members of the Letter Carriers (NALC), as well as rural carriers, other postal employees and volunteers collected an as yet unknown—but massive—amount of food from postal customers to distribute to food banks and food kitchens across the country.

You can help “Stamp Out Hunger” this weekend by joining with the Letter Carriers (NALC) in the largest one-day food drive in the nation. NALC asks that you collect canned goods and dry food, such as tuna, canned meat, soups, pasta, rice and cereal, and leave them in a bag or box by your mailbox on Saturday, May 14. Your letter carriers will pick them up as they deliver your mail. NALC members will deliver the goods to local food banks, pantries and shelters to help needy families in 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states and U.S. jurisdictions.