Largest Annual One-Day, Food Drive Held on Saturday, May 10!

Worcester postal workers deliver mail and collect food

United Way of Central Massachusetts and The National Association Of Letter Carriers strive to collect 400,000 pounds of food!

Letter carriers will do much more than deliver mail on Saturday, May 10. They will help fill the food banks in the central Massachusetts area that have become bare in these tough economic times.

Next week, more than 800 volunteers including 600 Letter Carriers from 33 central Massachusetts’ communities will collect non-perishable foods items as part of the 21st annual “Stamp-Out Hunger” food drive. This is part of a national effort that will collect millions of pounds of food on Saturday.

The National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive, which is coordinated through a partnership among the National Association of Letter Carriers, the United States Postal Service, the AFL-CIO, the United Way of Central Massachusetts, and the Worcester County Food Bank, strives to stock the shelves of pantries around central Massachusetts with 400,000 pounds of food during this drive. Last year, local letter carriers collected more than 300,000 pounds of food for pantries in central Massachusetts.

“So often we think of contributing food during holiday time; but during the summers when children are not in school receiving free and reduced breakfasts and lunches – there is a critical need. And with our current economy, the need for food has increased dramatically, up 17% from last year alone. The Letter Carriers food drive fills that need,” said Paul Soucy, Director of Labor- AFL/CIO at the United Way of Central Massachusetts.

People are asked to leave any non-perishable canned goods or boxed items near their mailboxes. The Letter Carriers or volunteers will pick up the donated items while delivering mail along their route next Saturday.

Letter Carriers in the following Massachusetts communities are participating in the food drive: Auburn, Baldwinville, Blackstone, Clinton, Fitchburg, Holden, Hopedale, Hopkinton, Hudson, Leicester, Leominster, Lunenburg, Marlboro, Millbury, Northboro, North Brookfield, North Grafton, Oxford, Shrewsbury, Southbridge, South Grafton, Spencer, Uxbridge, Webster, Westboro, West Boylston, Whitinsville, Winchendon and Worcester.