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.

NALC President Fredric Rolando said:

It is gratifying to see so many NALC members and other volunteers sacrifice their time and energy to make sure this humanitarian effort is a success year after year. I am sure that the recipients of your efforts are very appreciative during these difficult economic times for so many families.

Here are a few highlights of the food drive, the largest one-day effort of its kind in the country:

•  In Vienna, W.Va., students at Neale Elementary School, acting on a suggestion by carrier Roger Francis, brought in 2,800 pounds of food for the Wayside Good Samaritan Center food pantry. One fourth grade class brought in the most items and as a reward, five kids in that class were chosen at random to throw a pie at Principal Mike Fling.
• In Scranton, Pa., several members of the equestrian team from the University of Scranton put together special bags of groceries that could be purchased and then donated to the drive.  By Saturday afternoon, about 730 bags of groceries had been bought and donated by customers.
• Wells Fargo pitched in to help the Oregon Food Bank in that state and eastern Washington with more than 600 volunteers joining in at 47 locations, along with a hefty monetary contribution.

Rolando also thanked the union’s national partners in the drive—the U.S. Postal Service, Campbell Soup Co., the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, Valpak Direct Marketing Systems, United Way Worldwide and its local United Ways, the AFL-CIO, the Feeding America food bank network and Uncle Bob’s Self Storage. Rolando also thanked “Family Circus” cartoonists Bil and Jeff Keane, who yearly provide special artwork.

The drive was aided by extensive public service advertising by Campbell Soup and Feeding America. Actor and host of “America’s Got Talent” Nick Cannon played a critical role in the drive this year by promoting it on TV and radio public service announcements for weeks before the drive.