Photo: Deputy Postmaster General & Chief Human Resources Officer
Our employees’ commitment to public service goes far beyond the workplace. Every day, I see postal workers go above and beyond the call of duty, making sure the communities we serve — the communities we call home — are cleaner, safer and more welcoming places to live.
This altruism takes many forms, with many employees providing individual help and working with local grassroots efforts.
There are larger efforts, too, such as the Stamp Out Hunger® Food Drive, an annual event typically held on the second Saturday in May and run by the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC). The Postal Service is proud to support the drive as a national partner.
Led by dedicated letter carriers, other postal employees, union members and other Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive supporters, this annual food drive helps millions of Americans across the nation at a time of year when stocks from the peak Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday donation seasons are almost depleted.
As Postmaster General Louis DeJoy noted in a recent video with NALC President Brian Renfroe, this year our letter carriers collected food and monetary donations in tens of thousands of cities and towns in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam.
Thanks to the generosity of the American public, this year the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive collected more than 39 million pounds of nonperishable food donations in just one day. With additional food donations and more than $400,000 in cash donations, the year’s total stands at close to 43.1 million pounds, an increase over last year’s total.
This is a great success and proves that the country’s largest one-day food drive makes a real difference.
In total, the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive has collected almost 2 billion pounds of food for those in need since its launch in 1993. We applaud NALC for its more than three decades of inspired leadership in this critical mission.
If you missed this year’s drive, don’t worry; next spring will be here sooner than you realize. So, when you see the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive postcard in your mail early next year, prepare early. On the second Sunday of May, leave your donation of nonperishable food in a bag near your mailbox and your letter carrier will do the rest.
Millions of Americans face food insecurity every day, including children, seniors and veterans. The NALC Food Drive is one effective way we can all contribute to stamping out hunger.
Douglas Tulino
Deputy Postmaster General and Chief Human Resources Officer