The South Florida Federal Executive Board invites postal employees to join other federal workers at this off-the-clock picnic on Saturday, June 29.

'Push' for Your Participation in Letter Carrier Food Drive, Saturday, May 11

Join Starr Hunter, Letter Carrier/NALC 1690 Recording Secretary with a last-minute “push” for the annual NALC Food Drive on Saturday, May 11.

Be part of the nation’s largest single-day food drive.  Also encourage your family, friends, and neighbors to leave a bag of non-perishable food items by their mailbox tomorrow.  Their city or rural letter carrier will then pick up and deliver donated goods to the Post Office/food bank for sortation and distribution to the hungry in the local community.
Photo:  LuAnn Warner

On Thursday, May 9, Fort Lauderdale team members promoted the food drive in the lobby of the main office on Oakland Park Blvd.  Pictured L to R:  NALC 2550 President Tammie Jo Cadwell; Customer Relations Coordinator Tashia Romano-Kravitz; Manager, Customer Service Operations, Ed Drozdowski, and Assistant to Congressman Alcee L. Hastings, Edwina Ward.

Hail to the (Fort Lauderdale) Chief!

On May 3, Scott R. Bower officially became Fort Lauderdale Postmaster.  Jo Ann Feindt, Vice President, Area Operations, Southern Area, administered the oath of office before honored guests at the Stranahan House in downtown Fort Lauderdale. 

                                    Alex Sepulveda (L) and Eileen Cescon (R)

(L to R) Phyllis Reed, Frank Mariano, and Rufus Graham

(L to R)  Jaqui Arroyo, Maria Artiz, Barry Artiz

Broward Postal Customer Council 

Kelly Levy (L) and Ray Chang (R)

(L to R)  Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler, Fort Lauderdale VMF Manager Terry Welch, and South Florida District Manager Jeffery Taylor were among honored guests.

(L to R) Barbara Brewington, Todd Katkow, and Wilma Huertas strike a pose. 

Lillian Castro (L) and Kevin Castro (R) review the official program.

Marguerite Goulet (L) and Jo Ann Feindt (R) share a story with Kevin Castro in background.

West Palm Beach Team Prepares for NALC Food Drive, Saturday, May 18

(L to R) Brian Debee, NALC 1690 Vice President; Andy Moir, Manager, Customer Services, Palms West Branch; Angie Toro representing U.S. Representative Patrick Murphy; Paco Velez, CEO, Feeding South Florida; Starr Hunter, Letter Carrier/NALC 1690 Recording Secretary; and Rick Abbarno, NALC 1690 President are ready for the annual food drive.

Photo:  LuAnn Warner

Promoting the largest one-day food drive in the nation are Perry Borman, Executive Director, Palm Beach County Food Bank; and Starr Hunter, Letter Carrier/NALC 1690 Recording Secretary.  Photo:  LuAnn Warner

WPEC Channel 12 videographer interviewed Starr Hunter, letter carrier and NALC 1690 recording secretary, about the upcoming food drive.  Photo:  LuAnn Warner

'Gateway to the Future' Coming Soon!

What's on your mind?  The South Florida Leadership Team wants to hear from you at an upcoming town hall meeting.  Mark Saturday, May 18, on your calendar to attend the "Gateway to the Future" town hall meeting and career networking forum in Broward County.  Look in the mail for a letter with additional information, including special guests, class itinerary, and registration form.  

Get Tech Savvy for Hurricane Season

As the 2013 Atlantic Hurricane Season approaches, consider the benefits of technology when reviewing your Emergency Action Plan.  There are many available communications for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry and Smartphone users, including those listed below.  Most have an associated cost so you’ll need to do your homework.

·         Flashlight App  When Japan experienced the tsunami, flashlight Apps were the # 1 download on smartphones.  This feature will come in handy during a power outage.

·         Hurricane HD lets you track storms with moving radar and satellite imagery from the National Hurricane Center.  It provides tropical bulletins, forecasts, and advisories.  You can watch video updates for current storms and find data on major storms of the past.

·The Weather Channel has fully customizable weather maps, animated radar maps, detailed weather conditions and forecasts, severe weather alerts, and a notification bar with the current temperature and severe weather alert indicator. It allows you to get weather forecasts for your location or search by city, ZIP Code, street address, or landmark.  This App also includes interactive maps that are fully customizable and feature the functionality of Google Maps. You can decide to display layers such as radar, clouds, UV index, rainfall, and more.

·         AccuWeather’s iPad App has an advanced Hurricane Center that lets you track the latest hurricanes.  The current position and expected paths of active hurricanes are plotted on a Google Map. All news stories and expert videos related to the tropics are easily accessed.  Weather warnings are displayed on the forecast page to keep you alert of any weather-related watches or warnings for your area.

·         Hurricane Hub is a comprehensive hurricane information portal with everything from NOAA forecasts, current storm maps, eye-witness reports and general hurricane information and trivia to tips for riding out a storm, donating or volunteering in relief efforts, and tools for reconnecting family members after a storm. It offers quick access to an overview map of active storms, computer models of projected paths from different agencies via SkeetobiteWeather.com, three- and five-day cones for active storms from NOAA, and satellite imagery of different ocean basins from Weather Underground.

·Global Alert Network delivers hands-free national traffic and weather alerts. See iTunes for Apple devices or go to BlackBerry for a download.  The Global Alert Network automatically broadcasts audible hands-free alerts to mobile devices. You can choose to subscribe to weather or traffic alerts, which are geo-targeted to your location.

One last consideration:  You may not have power after a hurricane.  Prior to the storm, be sure to fully charge your electronic devices.  Also consider purchasing a solar charger to keep your smartphones, tablets, and other small devices operable.

The 21st annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive — the nation’s largest annual one-day food collection event —  will take place Saturday, May 11, 2013.

The Postal Service is encouraging employees to support for the annual food drive and urging customers to place a sturdy bag containing non-perishable foods next to their mailboxes prior to their regular mail deliveries May 11.

Last year, carriers collected more than 70 million pounds of food donations — the ninth consecutive year that the 70-million-pound mark was eclipsed.  Nearly 1.2 billion pounds of food have been collected since the first drive in 1993.

In addition to checking out the website, employees can join  the conversation and find out how they can help, by visiting Facebook and Twitter.  Employees can gain access to social media on work computers through eAccess if they have a business reason for  it, and also with manager’s approval. The official USPS social media policy, which can be found online at the Postal Service Policy Net Website, includes important guidelines for professional use.