United States Annual Letter Carriers Drive
The National Association of Letter Carriers sponsors the annual “Help Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive” on the second Saturday in May each year. It is the Largest Food Drive in the World that is held on a single day! Postal customers will place their non perishable food containers near their mail boxes on the day of the drive and letter carriers will collect them. Returning to the Post Office they will give them to a charity that has been selected to receive from the local station. All stations across the United States participate. The Saint Therese Center HIV Outreach has participated since 2000 in this annual event.
Our History:
| 2000 | Collected at Summerlin Post Office | Shared with another AIDS agency AFAN |
| 2001 | Collected at Valle Verde Post Office | Shared with St. Jude Children’s Ranch |
| 2002 | Collected at Valle Verde Post Office | From this year on we are the only Charity at the Valle Verde location. |
| 2003 | Collected at Valle Verde Post Office | |
| 2004 | Collected at Valle Verde Post Office | 32,000 Pounds of Food Collected |
| 2005 | Collected at Valle Verde Post Office | 37,000 Pounds of Food Collected |
| 2006 | Collected at Valle Verde Post Office and Southern Hills Post Office | 35,000 Pounds of Food Collected |
| 2007 | Collected at Valle Verde Post Office | 28,000+ Pounds of Food Collected |
| 2008 | Collected at Valle Verde Post Office | 26,390 Pounds of Food Collected |
| 2009 | Collected at Valle Verde Post Office | 23,000 Pounds of Food Collected |
| 2010 | Collected at Valle Verde Post Office | 22,000 Pounds of Food Collected |
| 2011 | Collected at Valle Verde Post Office | 28,580 Pounds of Food Collected #1 in Nevada |
| 2012 | Collected at Valle Verde Post Office | 30,185 Pounds of Food Collected |
Carmen Munoz, a volunteer who lost her mother Lydia, to complications of the HIV Virus in the 80’s and has been associated with Father Joseph and HIV Outreach in Phoenix as well as here inLas Vegas, has coordinated the Postal Food Drive since our involvement in 2000! Saint Therese Center Clients, volunteer for the day and also do a wonderful job at feeding all those who attend as well as the Postal Workers. During 2008 and 2009, in addition to the hot dogs and hamburgers, baby back and spareribs were available. Chef Virgil Barnett did an outstanding job on the Salads and Barbeque.
In 2009 with the low Economy the food donations slipped drastically (actually collected 16,500 pounds) but because our Saint Therese Center is blest by donations from major companies we decided to include the pickups we did from other agencies on that same day as donations to the Letter Carrier’s Food Drive thus giving is a total of 23,000 for the year. Norman AhNee and Nikita have taken over as Master Chefs for feeding the gang. True fact, it is so well know how well we feed those present that the other Post Offices are suggestion we rotate Charities so other Post Office personnel can experience the Saint Therese Center HIV Outreach organization and Barbeque! In 2011 the amount of food collected by the Valle Verdi Post Office was the largest amount of any Post Office in Southern Nevada!
Albertson’s food stores have also come on board collecting food for the event as well as money to purchase food for the benefitting charities. The theme is Twelve Days to Donate at your local Albertson’s as well as at your Mail Box on the actual day! Pictures of the Albertsons that were involved and our wonderful Volunteers who helped:
Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, National Association of Letter Carriers
To help, just bring the below list to your nearest Albertsons and purchase a few items to leave in the barrel near the front entrance of the store. Saint Therese Center HIV Outreach Volunteers will be collecting food from May 1 to 12 from 2 PM to 6 PM on weekdays and 10 AM to 6 PM on weekends.
Our most needed items:
| canned meat | peanut butter | beans (all kinds) | canned tuna |
| canned chili | pasta | Bisquick | pasta sauce |
| canned vegetables | Top Ramen noodles | cereal | sugar |
| flour | canned stew | canned fruit | jelly |
Or you can:
Donate at the Albertson’s register when you check out! You'll have a “stamp” hung on the wall in your honor showing you help stamp out hunger.
Or you can:
Fill a grocery bag with food and leave it at by your mailbox on May 12. Your letter carrier will pick up the bag and deliver it to a local hunger relief organization.
It is very easy and that simple!!
Participating Albertsons Stores
The Saint Therese Center is fortunate to have six (6) stores that are helping us this year in 2012, they are: Albertson’s Food Stores Located at:
5881 E. Charleston Boulevard
(Charleston and Sloan)
Las Vegas, NV 89142
(702) 457-1400
575 College Drive
(Horizon Ridge and College Drive)
Henderson, NV 89015
(702) 568-0115
190 N Boulder Highway
(Boulder and Lake Mead)
Henderson NV 89015-5308
(702) 565 7805
Russell, Melissa, Faith
201 S. Stephanie Street
(Stephanie and Horizon Ridge)
Henderson NV 89012-4476
(702) 269 1502
Scott, Malachi
9725 Maryland Parkway
(Silverado Ranch and Maryland)
Las Vegas NV 89182-7120
(702) 616 1946
Beverly and Father Joseph
2575 S Maryland Parkway
(Sahara and Maryland Parkway)
Las Vegas NV 89109-1606
(702) 735 2135
Beka, Father Joseph and Tom
The food collected gets us into the summer at all our pantry locations and we are grateful to all those involved.
