Union, leader of food bank mend fences over fee policy

Friday, April 24, 1998 | 10:05 a.m.

Community Food Bank Director Bessie Braggs accepts the decision by the letter carriers union to exclude her organization from its big May 9 food drive.

She just wishes that the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 2502 didn't misinform a bunch of Southern Nevada charities by claiming in a March 16 letter that the food bank sells food to organizations that help the poor.

The letter carriers agree. They recently issued a written apology to the food bank and the charities to whom they sent the prior correspondence.

NALC Local President Jerry Penn said the incident was a misunderstanding and that his organization never intended to hurt the food bank, which last year distributed the bulk of the 370,000 pounds of food his group collected.

The misunderstanding, he said, arose over the food bank charging its more than 100 member organizations a 14-cents-per-pound "shared maintenance fee" for the food it provides, which is not the same as selling it for a profit.

The letter carriers' decision to bypass the food bank, which it has worked with since 1991, means it will deal directly with at least 17 area charities to help them get the donated food to the needy without having to pay those fees.

"The Community Food Bank won't go out of business because of this decision," Braggs said, defending the fee that was established by the Internal Revenue Service to help charities like hers defray operational costs. "But being left out will hurt us because of the lean pickings out there."