Community service

Letter carriers serve their communities every day, six days a week, just by doing their jobs, but their commitment to service extends far beyond walking their mail routes. NALC’s long-time commitment to community service is evident at every level, from the letter carriers who organize and participate in numerous charitable events to the coordinated efforts by NALC Headquarters that help the collective efforts of letter carriers have a strong, consistent impact on the national level.

NALC considers community service to be part of its mission. Community service efforts are integrated into NALC’s leadership and communication efforts at all levels, with ambitious goals and strong support. NALC’s community service campaigns include: 

Letter Carriers' Food Drive

Fooddrive

NALC is the chief organizer of the largest one-day food drive in the nation. The NALC effort is held annually on the second Saturday in May in 10,000 cities and towns in every part of the country. Residents put out non-perishable food donations on that day, which letter carriers collect as they deliver mail along their postal routes. The food is then taken to local food banks. The food drive has collected more than 1.9 billion pounds of food since the national drive began in 1992. Click here for more information.

NALC Disaster Relief Foundation

The NALC Disaster Relief Foundation was created for NALC members with oversight from the NALC Executive Council. The purpose of the Foundation is to fill a need identified by many branches that have faced disasters, including wildfires, hurricanes and floods, to name a few. Download the NALC Disaster Relief Foundation Member's Guide here.

Letter Carrier Heroes

Hero pinSix days a week, in every city and town across America, proud union letter carriers travel the streets and byways, serving every home and business along their routes. Letter carriers are often the first to notice when something is wrong. It might be an elderly person living alone who has fallen ill, a lost or kidnapped child, or people trapped in a house fire—hundreds of reports of letter carrier heroes come into NALC Headquarters each year. The daily deeds of bravery and simple compassion by these courageous letter carriers all across America make us all proud. To recognize their extra level of service, NALC highlights a group of Heroes annually and honors them in a ceremony in Washington, DC. Click here for more information.

Deliver the Cure for MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association)

MDAAmerica’s letter carriers have helped lead the search for a cure for neuromuscular diseases for half a century. The NALC was the first national sponsor of the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) and letter carriers are among MDA’s top fundraisers, collecting more than $20 million in the past 15 years alone to finance research and provide care and services for children and adults with muscular dystrophies.

Working on the local level, thousands of letter carriers organize many different kinds of fundraising and volunteer events, including bowlathons, fundraising walks and rides, raffles, volunteer work at MDA camps for children with neuromuscular diseases and other events they dream up. Their work is recognized, encouraged and supported on the national level. Click here for more information.

Carrier Alert

Carrier AlertCarrier Alert is a cooperative community service program to monitor the well-being of elderly and disabled mail patrons. As one of the few—and some days only—point of human contact for homebound patrons, letter carriers are particularly attuned to signs that could mean an accident or illness. Carrier Alert is a system to tap into that sensitivity.

Carrier Alert is a joint program of the NALC and the Postal Service that works in cooperation with local service organizations. When a letter carrier notes something unusual concerning a patron registered with Carrier Alert, he or she reports it to a postal supervisor or other designated individual who in turn contacts the sponsoring local agency, which checks on the person and contacts family, police or emergency services if necessary.  Click here for more information.

The Postal Employees’ Relief Fund (PERF)

PERFPERF exists to help active and retired postal employees, both management and craft, whose home, as a result of a major natural disaster was completely destroyed or left uninhabitable—displacing the postal employee and their family for an extended period of time. Since 1990, PERF has been there to help carriers, clerks and other active and retired postal workers rebuild after hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes, floods, tornadoes and wildfires.

PERF provides small relief grants to assist qualifying victims of such circumstances re-establish residence and to help replenish basic necessities in the aftermath of a devastating loss. PERF is funded through voluntary donations from postal employees, including letter carriers. Click here for more information, or go to postalrelief.com.

Combined Federal Campaign

NALC encourages letter carriers to participate in the Combined Federal Campaign CFC), which allows federal employees to donate to community service groups of their choice through paycheck deduction. PERF (CFC No. 10268) and MDA (CFC No. 10561) are among the organizations that receive funds through CFC. Click here for more information.

Disaster Relief Foundation