Oregon Public Broadcasting

Saturday is the 16th annual Letter Carriers Food Drive.

Postal workers across the country delivered yellow plastic bags on their routes earlier this month.

People can fill those bags with nonperishable foods and leave them near their mailbox.

Then letter carriers pick up those donations and pass them on to local food banks.

Kevin Card is a letter carrier in Lake Oswego.  Card has worked for the post office for 23 years, and he calls the food drive his favorite day of the year.

He said even in poorer and under-served communities donations are strong, and he hopes that's the case this year.

Kevin Card: "Over the years we've averaged over a million pounds, this year we'd like to get 2 million pounds of food to fill up those food banks.  Because we do know that there are a lot of people out there that are struggling with an economy that isn't as roaring as it used to be, and this is a great way for us to do that."

Card says "you can't give us too much food."  If you happen to miss the letter carriers, you can still drop off donations at any post office until next Wednesday.