[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12253]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 CELEBRATING NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS' 2006 ``STAMP OUT 
                      HUNGER'' NATIONAL FOOD DRIVE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES P. McGOVERN

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 21, 2006

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, June 6th was National Hunger Awareness 
Day, a day when our Nation acknowledged that more than 38 million 
Americans, including nearly 14 million children, still go hungry every 
day.
  As a Member of Congress and as one of the Co-Chairs of the House 
Hunger Caucus, I am committed to ending hunger in the United States and 
around the world. I know we can end hunger once and for all if we only 
have the political will to do so.
  Mr. Speaker, it is with gratitude and pleasure that I rise to 
specifically acknowledge the efforts of the National Association of 
Letter Carriers (NALC) toward feeding the hungry in the United States 
and its jurisdictions. On Saturday, May 13, the NALC executed its 14th 
annual ``Stamp Out Hunger'' national food drive. Millions of American 
generously left food donations next to their mail slots for pick-up 
that Saturday. Local letter carriers throughout the country collected, 
processed and distributed 70,493,150 pounds of donated food along their 
regular postal routes.
  The 70.5 million pounds of food has gone to restock our Nation's food 
banks, pantries and shelters. This national network of agencies assist 
our children, elderly, working poor, disabled and unemployed who 
struggle to obtain nutritious meals for themselves and their families.
  Some of this food was donated by residents of the 3rd Congressional 
District of Massachusetts to the Greater Boston Food Bank and the 
Worcester County Food bank, Together, they serve 887 soup kitchens, 
food pantries, shelters and other agencies.
  This drive exemplifies the types of partnerships between government, 
the private sector and civil society that our country needs. The United 
States Postal Service and Campbell Soup Company teamed up with the NALC 
to deliver almost 118 million post-cards promoting the drive, and to 
enable the pick-up and distribution of donations.
  I commend the efforts of over 200,000 letter carriers, great American 
public servants on and off the job, toward helping our needy. Their 
efforts should serve as an inspiration and as a model to our fellow 
Americans and to the federal government. I hope that the work of our 
Nation's letter carriers spurs other Americans to work together toward 
the achievable goal of ending hunger in this wealthiest of nations.

                          ____________________