WASHINGTON – Letter carriers across the country will collect non-perishable food donations Saturday (May 10) as they deliver mail along their postal routes in the nation’s largest one-day effort to combat hunger.

The 16 th annual drive is being conducted by the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) with the assistance of rural letter carriers and other postal employees and volunteers. The postal union hopes to exceed last year’s 70.7 million pounds of food delivered to community food banks and pantries.

NALC President William H. Young said non-perishable food donations from postal customers will help millions of American families withstand the economic downturn during the summer months, a critical period when most school lunch programs are suspended.

“With rising prices for gasoline and food, an unbearable squeeze has been placed on family budgets, forcing many Americans to seek help for the first time from community food banks and pantries to get adequate nutrition,” Young said.

Donations will be collected along postal routes in over 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and the District of Columbia. Residents are being asked to leave non-perishable food donations – such as canned meat and fish, soup, cereals, pasta and rice – in a bag near their mailbox on Saturday before their letter carrier arrives. Glass containers and expired items should be avoided. (In Chicago and New York City, residents should take their donation to their local post office or make an online donation.)

Over 120 million postcards, sponsored by the Campbell Soup Company and the U.S. Postal Service, have been mailed to postal customers to remind them of the drive. If a resident does not receive a postcard, they should check with their local post office about the drive.

Co-sponsors with the NALC are the Postal Service, Campbell Soup, Cox Target Media, United Way of America, the AFL-CIO and America’s Second Harvest.