This Saturday is the seventeenth year letter carriers have been collecting food donations at stops along their postal routes.
"I'm very impressed by what people give here," said customer services supervisor Barney Laverty of the Montville, Uncasville and Oakdale contributions.
Contributions from letter carriers and postal branches are consolidated at the Uncasville branch at the end of the day.
Laverty said last year's donations filled five to six pallets, which were picked up by the the Gemma E. Moran United Way Labor Food Center. Some mail carriers had to make a special trip back to the post office to unload donations and head back out to finish their delivery route.
WHAT: United Way of Southeastern Connecticut encourages community members to donate a sturdy bag of non-perishable items (canned foods, pasta, rice, cereal, etc) to be collected by letter carriers as they deliver mail along their postal routes.
WHO: “Stamp Out Hunger” is a national partnership between NALC, the U.S. Postal Service, United Way, the AFL-CIO, the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, Campbell, Feeding America, Valpak, AARP and Uncle Bob’s Self Storage. The nation’s 230,000 active letter carriers will take the donations to local food banks, pantries and shelters. Locally, all donations collected within New London County will be delivered to the Gemma E. Moran United Way Labor Food Center.
WHEN: Saturday, May 14, 2011, prior to mail delivery
WHERE: Leave bag(s) next to your mailbox.
WHY: Each year, millions of Americans join the effort to help meet the needs of nearly 50 million Americans who live in families that lack sufficient food. One in seven adults and nearly one-quarter of all children who are hungry and not receiving the basic nutrition they need. Moving into the summer months, 22 million students are at risk of going hungry when the school year ends. For many children, school meals are the only complete and nutritious meals they eat. Last year, New London County residents donated 48,000 pounds of food providing over 52,800 meals to help those in need within our community.
The “Stamp Out Hunger” partnership has provided more than one billion pounds of food for people in need across the country.
