​

The National Association of Letter Carriers food drive is the outgrowth of a tradition of community service by members of the letter carriers union, who over the years have gone into neighborhoods in every town six days a week, and have always been involved when something needed to be done. For years, many branches, including Kewanee, have collected food for the needy as part of their community service effort.

The modern version of the drive began in 1993 — on the second Saturday in May  — with a goal of having at least one NALC branch in each of the 50 states participating. The result was astounding. More than 11 million pounds of food was collected—a one-day record in the United States—involving more than 220 union branches nationwide. Letter carriers did double duty—delivering mail and picking up donations. It has continued to grow ever since In 2010, the food drive surpassed the 1 billion pound park in total food collected over its history.