Note: The following is from KSworkbeat.org, the Website of the Wichita / Hutchinson Labor Federation and was written by Stuart Elliott
The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) has announced that the nation’s largest food drive to combat hunger will be conducted this year on Saturday, May 9. On that day, letter carriers will collect non-perishable donations from homes as they deliver mail along their postal routes.
The 17th annual NALC National Food Drive to “Stamp Out Hunger” is the largest one-day food drive in the nation. Carriers collected a record 73.1 million pounds of food in last year’s drive. The drive is held annually on the second Saturday in May in over 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
Kansas Workbeat talked to Larry Gunkel a stafffer at Wichita’s former President of Wichita NALC local and a former President of Wichita’s NALC local. Gunkle said, “We’ve had a 30 percent increase in need over last year. The summer months are always a time of big demand with children not having access to food provdided at school.”
Mario Cervantes, United Way of the Plains labor liaison, told us that “Most of the food that will be raised during this year’s NALC Food Drive will go too laid off workers through the Help Center for Laid-Off Workers. I will be looking for volunteers for Saturday May 9th at 7 post office locations. I’m also going the Machinists and other locals to ask them to bring a can food item to their April meetings.”
