Letter carriers collecting for hunger drive Saturday

If you notice the letter carrier sweating a little more this Saturday or lugging around a big bag, that's a good thing.

The 18th annual "Stamp Out Hunger" drive - where letter carriers pick up donated, nonperishable food items from either outside or underneath mailboxes across the suburbs - is Saturday.

The drive is a partnership between the U.S. Postal Service and the National Association of Letter Carriers and helps give suburban pantries a boost during summer months.

"It's the single-largest food drive that anyone does," said Ross Fraser, spokesman for Feeding America, a network of food banks. "It will give us about 75 million pounds of food this year. It's a tremendous amount of food."

Donations across the country from last year's event were a record 73.4 million pounds and are expected to increase because of the poor economy, the post office said in a prepared statement.

Since the food drive's inception, letter carries have collected about 982.7 million pounds and hope to break 1 billion this year.

Last year, letter carriers in northern Illinois collected more than 335,000 pounds of food.

Participation and how the letter carriers measure donations varies from post office to post office.

Sean Hargadon, post office spokesman, said letter carriers in the Arlington Heights branch collected some 31,320 pounds last year. Letter carriers in Naperville collected 50,468 pounds, while those in Aurora logged 70,047 pounds.

Elgin Postmaster Susan Meathe said letter carriers in Elgin picked up 13,000 pounds of food last year.

"We're ready to fill our mailbags with food," she said.

The food is eventually sorted and distributed to local food pantries, including the Salvation Army in Elgin.

Major Ken Nicolai said the organization in May offered weekly food distribution to 2,612 people, a number that has been on the rise because of the economy.

Nicolai said food supplies usually dwindle or just flat run out in summer months, especially July and August, so the letter carrier drive comes at a good time.

"This time of year is when our food supply is low, and it's no different from last year," he said. "Food goes quick and supplies are down."

Other co-sponsors of the drive are Feeding America, the nation's largest food bank network; United Way Worldwide and its local United Ways; the AFL-CIO; Valpak; and the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association.