Nalc - National Association Of Letter Carriers Food Drive

The National Association of Letter Carriers began their annual food drive with an experimental effort in 10 cities in 1991, expanding to their "first" national drive in 1993. Here is some memorabilia from their drives.

1994 spray cancel from Rochester, NY.


2001 and 2002 slogan cancels from Erie, PA.


Pins from 1995 and 1996.


Pins from 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014.


1994 local card from Lawrence, KS, trimmed at right end.


1995 card.




1996 card.




1997 card.


1998 card.


1999 card.


2000 card.


2001 card.


2002 card.


2003 card.


2004 card.


2005 card.


2006 card.


2007 card.


2008 card.


2009 card.


2010 card.


2011 card


2012 card.


2013 card.


2014 card.


2015 card.


And there are plenty of locally produced cards, thank you cards, collection bags, t-shirts, posters, newspaper articles, etc.

So, just wondering. With as many Postal Carriers that refuse to do their job and throw mail in canyons and ravines, or just plain ol' trash; How many of them are taking a bit O' extra food home?????

Nice collection! It looks as if these cards could easily become a collecting area. I have set a few of the notices aside, but well short of your efforts.

Don

I agree, a most impressive collection. Thanks for sharing.

Basil

More NALC Food Drive memorabilia:

2011 Local card from Hoosier Hills Food Bank, Bloomington, IN




2013 Local card from Hoosier Hills Food Bank, Bloomington, IN


2014 Local card from Hoosier Hills Food Bank, Bloomington, IN


2015 Local card from Hoosier Hills Food Bank, Bloomington, IN


2014 corrugated cut-out, stands just over 5' high


1999 advertising poster, 17x22


2012 advertising poster, 17x22


2013 advertising poster, 17x22


2015 advertising poster, 17x22


2001 Thank you card (locally produced?)


c2010 Thank you card (locally produced?)


2013 Thank you card (locally produced?)


Collection bags from 2002, 2004, and 2006


Collection bags from 2007 and 2008


Collection bags from 2009 and 2010


Collection bags from 2011 and 2012


Collection bags from 2013


Collection bags from 2014


Collection bags from 2015

To bring this thread up to date with some recent material:

2014 pin, likely locally made.



2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 national pins.



2016 national ad card.



2017 national ad card.



2018 national ad card.



2016 Hoosier Hills Food Bank local card, Bloomington, Indiana.




2017 Hoosier Hills Food Bank local card, Bloomington, Indiana.




2018 Hoosier Hills Food Bank local card, Bloomington, Indiana.




2016 Post Office wall poster.



2018 Post Office wall poster.



2016 local collection bags.



2017 local collection bag.



2018 local collection bags.



2016 advertising magnet.



advertising key chain, c2015.



advertising sticker, obtained in 2018, but probably available earlier.



2017 local thank you card.



Front/back of 2006 shirt, typically worn by the carriers.




Front/back of 2008 shirt, typically worn by the carriers.




Front/back of 2010 shirt, typically worn by the carriers.




Front/back of 2011 shirt, typically worn by the carriers.




Front of another 2011 shirt.



Front/back of 2012 shirt, typically worn by the carriers.




Front/back of 2013 shirt, typically worn by the carriers.

I find this effort to be a joke, at least where I live. How much is spent on advertising and T-shirts vs. how much value collected? -- tonnage is rather meaningless unless people eat cans.

Locally, all regular carriers in my immediate area have taken the day off; true for many years now. Now that's a very charitable attitude, isn't it? I've caught the substitute carrier once trying to "forget" the clearly marked bag I left out by the mailboxes and I've often seen "forgotten" donations left behind in walking around the neighborhood at night. Hopefully, it's a boon to the homeless (whom the city denies existing), but it's also encouragement for package thieves.

Your mileage may vary, but I volunteered just over 4 hours on Saturday morning to help pick up bags ahead of the carriers and then sort the canned and boxed food donations at a local food bank. There were 3-4 dozen volunteers helping from local non-profits and businesses. The bags were donated by Bemis. It is a humbling and eye-opening experience. I would encourage everyone to try it for a few hours. Some of the food will be distributed directly to the needy and some will be served through soup kitchens. Last year the carriers in my area collected 107,000 pounds. I got home just before my regular carrier came by - a bit later than usual, but he did not take the day off.

I worked at the state food bank last year after the USPS food drive to help sort the proceeds. There a dozen or more pallets with boxes four feet deep that we sorted the food into. It was a lot of food, and I'm sure those that receive it appreciate it.

I think this is another case where the media (both traditional and social) end up presenting only 'news' which is sensational and generate rankings or clicks. It does not matter what the cause is or which topic we are talking about; there are always 'bad apples' and people who are seeking the negativity to exploit with publicity. Companion animals? The media finds a few morons who abuse the rules and then taint public opinion for those who truly need them. I have even had people try to call me out for parking in the handicapped parking spaces. One lady said she had seen a news article on how some people were scamming to get a handicapped sticker and thought I looked 'fine'. I lifted my shirt to show her the dialysis perma-cath hanging out of my chest on one side and the chemo power port embedded on the other side of my chest. So to avoid this in the future I had some t-shirts made up

I think the NALC food drive is the same; sure there are some jerks who take advantage but on the whole it is a good program which helps a lot of folks.
Don

I agree, the media look for sensationalism.

Of course the original point of creating this thread was to show that there are very modern postal history topics which are collected and collectible. They will be very challenging to assemble when they are as old as WWII, Prexie, or Liberty series postal history.

Here is the 2019 update.

Front/back of 2019 national ad card:



2019 lobby poster:


2019 advertising pin:


Front/back of 2019 local donation bag distributed in the Terre Haute, IN area:



Front/back of Hoosier Hills Food Bank local ad card used in Bloomington, IN area:



Going back in time 2 years, front/back of 2017 t-shirt worn by carriers and volunteers in Brazil, IN area:



I am always interested in obtaining other NALC food drive items not shown here - especially locally distributed items.

John,

A marvelous collection of ephemera. More impressive is that you had it all well enough organized to put together this presentation in just a couple of days. I've set aside a few of these cards for my collection, but I don't think I could find them all in a week of Sundays.

Question: Do you keep the T-shirts in an album or in the closet?

Mike

Nearly impossible to find anything from before the current year. The shirts are hung in a closet.

Bumping this older thread...

Update with this year's (May 2023) notice.



Don

Time for an update on some new acquisitions.

The USPS is trying to make the food drive materials more generic for use in multiple years. Most recently, the dated card from 2020 (cancelled food drive due to covid, but this card still survived!):



Does anyone have a card provable to 2021?

This 2022 card is undated, but I accumulated many of these just after the 2022 drive - note the arrow pointing to the web address.


The 2023 card (also illustrated in Don's post), omits this website line and the lines of text above it are shifted downward:

I suspect leftover cards from 2022 were also distributed in some areas, since this change was very small.

Going way back, here are the front/back of two more cards from 1995:






And the local 2022 card from the Hoosier Hills food bank in Bloomington, IN:


Three different "thank you" cards distributed in 2019 in Brown County (IN), Fishers (IN), and Indianapolis, respectively. The reverse sides are all blank.




And more dated pins from way-back.








This is the pin I got from my local coordinator in May 2023 when I volunteered to pick up donations.


With the shift to generic (undated) advertising, are there pins provable to 2020, 2021, or 2022? Was the pin I got in 2023 new in 2023, or was it a left-over?