National Association of Letter Carriers - NALC Stamp Out Hunger National Food Drive – the largest one-day food drive in the nation and probably the world.
) Jessica is a Rural Postal Carrier in Florida, and this Saturday the US Post Office is having its annual food drive. USPS – NALC Food Drive
Every second Saturday in May letter carriers in more than 10,000 cities and towns across America deliver much more than mail when they walk and drive along their postal routes. They also collect the goodness and compassion of their postal customers who participate in the NALC Stamp Out Hunger National Food Drive – the largest one-day food drive in the nation and probably the world. Led by letter carriers represented by the National Association of Letter Carriers (AFL-CIO), with the help of rural letter carriers, other postal employees and numerous other volunteers, the drive has resulted in delivery of more than one billion pounds of donations to community food banks and pantries over the past 18 years. Carriers collect non-perishable food donations left by mailboxes and in post offices and deliver them to local community food banks, pantries and shelters. Nearly 1,500 local NALC branches in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands are involved in the drive. The U.S. Postal Service and Campbell Soup Company are major supporters of the drive. Campbell Soup also earmarked an additional 1 million pound canned food donation to the drive. Other supporters are Cox Target Media and its Valpak Direct Marketing Systems, the nationwide direct mail marketing firm, which promotes the drive on 40 million packets delivered to postal customers. The drive also relies on the backing of the National Rural Letter Carriers Association, the Feeding America food bank network; the United Way of America and its local United Ways, the AFL-CIO Community Services network, and countless local sponsors. All citizens need do is to place a box or can of non-perishable food next to their mailbox before their letter carrier delivers mail every second Saturday in May. The carrier will do all the rest. The food is taken back to a postal station, sorted, and then delivered to an area food bank or pantry. There it is available for needy families. Some 35.5 million people face hunger every day in America, including 13 million children. This drive is one way people can help those right in their own city or town who need help. The NALC food drive has received a number of accolades over the years, including two Presidential Certificates of Achievement. Help the U.S. Postal Service Stamp Out Hunger!
Here is a HuffPo article about it written by Nick Cannon: Help Stamp Out Hunger
Stamp Out Hunger, the largest single-day food drive in the world, taking place on Saturday, May 14th. Stamp Out Hunger is in its 19th year, and has collected over 1 billion pounds of food over the years. Organized by the National Association of Letter Carriers, the food drive is carried out in every postal district in the country. It’s very easy to participate. Just place non-perishable food items in your mailbox or hand to your letter carrier, and the postal workers will make sure it gets delivered to those who need it most. They’ll distribute the food by partnering with Feeding America, which runs over 200 food banks around the country and feeds 37 million people each year. The collected food will be distributed among 10,000 communities, including the many disaster-stricken states.
So please be sure to put some canned goods in your mailbox on Saturday…and lets help letter carriers like Jessica, Stamp Out Hunger! On to a distressing article on a topic that Madamab mentioned in the comments this past week. Peace Corps Volunteers Speak Out on Rape – NYTimes.com
Jess Smochek arrived in Bangladesh in 2004 as a 23-year-old Peace Corps volunteer with dreams of teaching English and “helping the world.” She left six weeks later a rape victim after being brutalized in an alley by a knife-wielding gang.
Philip Scott Andrews/The New York Times
Jess Smochek, who was raped in Bangladesh in 2004, advocates for former Peace Corps volunteers who were sexually assaulted.
Philip Scott Andrews/The New York Times
From left, Kate Finn, Meg Long and Casey Frazee of First Response Action, an advocacy group for former volunteers.
When she returned to the United States, the reception she received from Peace Corps officials was as devastating, she said, as the rape itself. In Bangladesh, she had been given scant medical care; in Washington, a counselor implied that she was to blame for the attack. For years she kept quiet, feeling “ashamed and embarrassed and guilty.” Today, Ms. Smochek is among a growing group of former Peace Corps volunteers who are speaking out about their sexual assaults, prompting scrutiny from Congress and a pledge from the agency for reform. In going public, they are exposing an ugly sliver of life in the Peace Corps: the dangers that volunteers face in far-flung corners of the world and the inconsistent — and, some say, callous — treatment they receive when they become crime victims. “These women are alone in many cases, and they’re in rough parts of the world,” said Representative Ted Poe, Republican of Texas, who says the Peace Corps’ promises do not go far enough and is sponsoring legislation to force changes in the way it treats victims of sexual assault. “We want the United States to rush in and treat them as a victim of crime like they would be treated here at home.” […] But from 2000 to 2009, on average, 22 Peace Corps women each year reported being the victims of rape or attempted rape, the agency says. During that time, more than 1,000 Peace Corps volunteers reported sexual assaults, including 221 rapes or attempted rapes. Because sexual crimes often go unreported, experts say the incidence is likely to be higher, though they and the Peace Corps add that it is difficult to assess whether the volunteers face any greater risk overseas than women in the United States do. On Wednesday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will convene a hearing to examine what its chairwoman, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Republican of Florida, called “serious crimes” committed against Peace Corps volunteers, including murder; in announcing the hearing, her office cited reports of “gross mismanagement of sexual assault complaints.” […] the work of Ms. Frazee, who has spent the last 18 months tracking down Peace Corps sexual assault survivors by reaching out through social networking sites and her blog. Last year, her work attracted the attention of the ABC News program “20/20,” which ran a segment on the women in January. In recent months, Ms. Frazee, 28, has collected more than two dozen affidavits from other women, who have shared stories that Mr. Williams called “tragic.” In interviews and documents, they paint a picture of what many call a “blame the victim” culture at the Peace Corps.
Please be sure to read the rest of the article, and I will post updates on the hearing when they become available. Moving on to a PLUB that is really pissing me off. This GOP Governor has put his signature on a bill that ends funding for Planned Parenthood in his state. Mitch Daniels signs controversial Planned Parenthood bill into law – CNN Political Ticker – CNN.com Blogs
Republican Indiana governor and potential 2012 presidential candidate Mitch Daniels signed a bill Tuesday that will cut off significant amounts of federal funds given to his state’s chapter of Planned Parenthood, a move the group fought by filing for a temporary restraining order and injunction with the U.S. District Court in Indianapolis.
The bill, which passed both houses of the state legislature by large margins, imposes some of the nation’s toughest restrictions on abortions, cutting off about $3 million in public funds received for female preventive health services, including birth control, breast and cervical cancer screenings and other tests in the Hoosier state. Although federal law prevents government funds being used for abortion services, proponents of the bill have said they do not want federal money funneled to an organization that performs abortions. Planned Parenthood has said the bill, which takes effect immediately, is dangerous and would have a “devastating impact on women’s health” in Indiana, according to Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
The Wall Street Journal has a poll going about those ridiculous sonograms before abortions, and I link it here so that you can read the comment section: WSJ: Should states require sonograms before allowing women have abortions Those guys commenting on this poll also piss me off. So I will just leave it at that, and move on to something that is sure to be a big ticket item in the 2012 Election. This next article is about the speech Obama gave today. Obama and Immigration Reform: Politics or Policy? | Mother Jones
A renewed emphasis on the economic argument for immigration would be a welcome shift—not just for the White House, but for the broader immigration debate, where heavy enforcement tactics like Arizona’s draconian immigration law have taken center stage. Though the Republican Party has moved dramatically to the right on immigration, business leaders like Rupert Murdoch and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg have remained committed to a comprehensive overhaul, given the economic benefits of immigration. Even the Wall Street Journal‘s notoriously conservative op-ed page has played up the importance of America’s young immigrant labor force to the country’s future economic prosperity. A focus on the economic benefits of immigration could encourage more moderate, pro-business voices to come forward to press for a comprehensive solution. Even so, Obama may have a tough time convincing his own allies that he’s seriously committed to a fully revamped immigration system, as the Republican-controlled House essentially rules out any action. Pro-immigration advocates are calling for Obama to slow the administration’s deportation of illegal immigrants and ease up on other enforcement tactics—a move the president’s unlikely to make, given the White House’s pride in its heavy enforcement strategy.
I know there are more recent articles on Obama’s speech about immigration, but they did not have a picture of Obama in a cowboy hat…aren’t the good guys supposed to wear white? I don’t know, I am not from Texas…and the folks around my area of Banjoland prefer baseball caps with rebel flags printed on them.
Squidbillies is a cartoon about squids...North Georgia Mountain Country squids.
Filed under: SD Reads File Cabinet, Food Drive, Peace Corp, rape, Stamp Out Hunger
