NALC Food Drive

By Jennifer Storm
Contributing Writer

On May 8, be sure to check the cupboard for extra soup cans and macaroni boxes before making a trip to the mailbox. As mail carriers make their daily rounds, they will be collecting food for the eighteenth annual NALC National Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.

The National Association of Letter Carriers hosts the largest, single-day food drive in the country, which was piloted in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1992. The drive was considered enormously successful and was presented at the national union conference. Branches across the country voted on whether or not to participate in the drive.

The first drive was held on May 15, 1993; with the participation of 220 union branches (at least one from each state). More than 11 million pounds of food was raised in a single day, a national record still held by the union.

Each year, more and more branches sign on to participate in the event; this year, a total of 1,024 branches are registered to participate in the event. The Fargo and West Fargo post office branches will participate this year, in addition to rural carrier branches who have signed on.

“In the FM area, the decision to participate in the event is always passed unanimously,” said Rick Olek. Olek has been a letter carrier for 31 years and was a member of the first team of carriers to host the drive in the Fargo-West Fargo area. “There is really a trust factor between letter carriers and their communities; we’re a very trusted agency because we’re a familiar face people see every day,” said Olek.

The food drive began as an effort to increase the impact of food drives hosted by individual branches. Since its inception, the drive has raised nearly one billion pounds of food for food banks nationwide. In 2009, the drive set a record of 73.4 million pounds of food; this year, drive organizers aim to exceed the billion pound collection mark.

Always held the second Saturday in May, the drive stocks food bank shelves as supplies begin to dwindle from the robust Thanksgiving and Christmas giving season. The donated provisions cushion food bank wares throughout the summer months.

Hornbachers sponsors the event locally, providing specially designed bags and paying the cost of postage on the distributed post cards advertising the event. The carriers deliver the bags and postcards the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday preceding the event. Although May 8 is the scheduled collection date, carriers will pick up food throughout the week.

After collecting the food, carriers will distribute it to the North Fargo or South Fargo locations. The Trollwood Post Office will be
the north collection center and the Prairiewood Post Office will be the south drop off site.

All food collected will be distributed to pantries throughout the state. Donations collected at the north location will aid the Emergency Food Bank, while south side donations will stock the shelves of the Great Plains Food Bank. Last year, the north side collected at total of 17,955 pounds and the south side collected 21,325 pounds.

Carriers are paid for their eight hours of delivery time; extra time they may spend picking up food is pure donation. “There is definitely a lot of need in the area—the food drive serves a very good cause,” said carrier Matt Reski, who has been involved in the food drive for five years.

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