Job well done

Dear Postal Colleagues:

We want to take a moment to thank everyone for your hard work during this year’s Letter Carrier Food Drive. Once again, you collected millions of pounds of food to help feed the estimated 50 million people—including 16 million children—who face hunger every day in the United States.

The results are now in and the 2014 effort collected 72.5 million pounds, marking the 11th consecutive year that the Letter Carrier Food Drive has surpassed 70 million pounds of food collected. Most donations—which Letter Carriers collected at mailboxes across the nation on  May 10—already have been delivered to local food banks and shelters. Many community pantries become depleted in the summer because school lunch programs are not available, so the timing could not be better. We have been holding the Letter Carrier Food Drive each year since 1992, and it has become the nation’s largest one-day food drive.

Like everyone in our Postal Service family, we were filled with pride when we saw the news coverage of this year’s drive. There were more than 2,000 television and radio reports and more than 1,000 newspaper and online articles. The Letter Carrier Food Drive also received lots of attention on social media. Postings about the drive received tens of thousands of hits on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and countless blogs. Everyone who sees this coverage knows that you are helping put food on the table for families who really need it.

That is one of the great things about the Letter Carrier Food Drive—it reminds our customers how we always go above and beyond the call of duty. It also shows what we can achieve when we all work together. It takes a team effort to make the drive a success. We want to thank all of our partners for their contributions.

Above all, we want to thank each of you! We could not do this without your support. In addition to those who collected food, many others worked behind the scenes to spread the word about the drive in your communities. Many more pitched in by leaving donations at your own mailboxes. You all played a role in the drive’s success, and we are proud of your efforts. Good job!

Sincerely,

Patrick R. Donahoe
Postmaster General
U.S. Postal Service

Fredric V. Rolando
President
National Association of Letter Carriers
Job well done