Letter carriers of Utah will be looking for handouts for the needy Saturday.
They have organized a food drive with the cooperation of U.S. Post Offices, the AFL-CIO, AFL-CIO Community Services and the United Way.The carriers hope to collect thousands of pounds of nonperishable food from their customers, who may leave items in a bag by their mailboxes. Carriers will pick up the donated food when they deliver the mail and take the donated items to local food banks and pantries.
Gov. Mike Leavitt declared Saturday as Letter Carriers Food Drive Day in Utah and encouraged Utahns to donate commercially canned or packaged food.
The letter carriers have dedicated the drive to 134,000 children in the state who they say experience hunger daily. Last year the carriers collected 329,000 pounds of food, enough to provide 112,000 meals for children and adults. The carriers' drive is reportedly the largest, single-day food drive in the nation.
"We see the effects of poverty on a very personal level," said Steve McNees, a Salt Lake letter carrier and president of Branch 111 of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC). NALC is a 300,000-member postal union.