The National Association of Letter Carriers is continuing a Chicago tradition that started more than three decades ago, now known as the “Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive,” and the union is asking everybody in the country who gets mail to take part.
Letter carriers gathered at the NALC Union Hall at 38th and Wabash, on Chicago’s South Side, where the annual event was kicked off with speeches by carriers and labor leaders.
“Letter carriers get it done, right?” said the union’s national Assistant Secretary-Treasurer Mack Julion, to applause from the assembled letter carriers. “Rain, snow, sleet, hail, COVID, crime, bad management, under-paid, under-appreciated, but we go out there and do it.”
Elise Foster, President of NALC Branch 11, said with so many people losing food assistance there’s a lot of need. .
“You all see the insecurities out there as you deliver the mail,” she said. “You know the customers that’s in need, you know those who are dependent on these benefits and these programs, so this is our way to give back.”
This is the 34th year for the food drive.
“It started in Chicago," said Don Villar with the Chicago Federation of Labor. "It’s the largest single-day food drive ever and we know the need is great.”
A Postal Service representative said the food drive has collected nearly 2-billion pounds of food nationwide in the more than three decades since it started.
“That’s phenomenal,” she said.
Letter carriers across the country are dropping off cards this week, asking postal customers to leave non-perishable food items in bags by mail boxes for pick-up on Saturday.
They’ll get the food to pantries.
They need your help
They need your help
