President William Young has informed 30 NALC members--two from each of the union’s 15 regions--of their selection as the first class of NALC’s new leadership training academy. Over 300 individuals applied for the positions.

“It is the goal of this academy to help prepare letter carriers who have an interest in becoming future leaders in this great Union,” Young said.

Young said the competition among the 300 members was so tough that all of the names “will be kept in the pot” for selecting more individuals for additional classes that will be conducted on a regular basis over the next several years.

Each trainee will have a designated mentor who will help with their experience and leadership abilities.

Three week-long classes will be conducted at the National Labor College/George Meany Center near Washington DC on July 24-29, October 2-7 and December 11-16, accompanied by projects to be completed back at home after each class.

Letter carriers collected a record 71.3 million pounds of donations in the 13th annual NALC Food Drive on May 14, almost a half million pounds above last year’s previous record in the nation’s largest one-day drive to help fight hunger in America.

The donations from postal customers were quickly delivered to local food banks, pantries and shelters.

Buffalo/Western New York NALC Branch 3, which collected 1,896,038 pounds, was the top NALC local branch for the third consecutive year, topping Long Island (NY) Merged Br. 6000 at 1,500,000 pounds.

Final results showed 71,301,210 pounds of non-perishable food were collected along postal routes.The 2005 total was announced at an anti-hunger rally in Washington, DC in conjunction with National Hunger Awareness Day.

NALC President William H. Young thanked all NALC members who took the time and made the effort to help those less fortunate in their communities, as well as the thousands of rural carriers and other postal employees and volunteers who helped.

“Without this unselfish display of caring by NALC members and all of these volunteers, our food drive could not continue to be such a success,” Young said. “The NALC Food Drive has become an icon in the anti-hunger effort in America and we are proud to be able to help our communities provide for the millions of families in need.”

Young expressed special appreciation to the U.S. Postal Service and Campbell Soup Company, who together supplied 112 million postcards to promote the drive, as well as other major supporters: Valpak, the direct mail marketing firm; America’s Second Harvest, the nation’s largest network of food banks; United Way of America and its local United Ways; the AFL-CIO, and cartoonist Bil Keane, who yearly provides a special “Family Circus” drawing for the drive.

In addition, Campbell Soup said it was earmarking 10 million cans of soup for hunger charities throughout the year in the name of the NALC drive.

Ten branches--the top two in five membership categories--will receive recognition plaques from NALC. Campbell Soup will also donate 1,000 cans of soup to a food bank designated by each. (See sidebar with winners.)