SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — Saturday, May 13, the National Association of Letter Carriers is hosting the 31st annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.

Siouxlanders will need to collect non-perishable food items in a plastic grocery bag, which they will leave by the mailbox on Saturday. U.S. Postal workers will then gather all the donations along their routes.

The nationwide campaign helps provide food for thousands of people.

“We’re expecting a big turn-out this year,” Mark Inglett, the communications specialist for the USPS, said. “You know, COVID kind of took us for a backseat for a year or two. We were back online last year, but everybody’s pretty excited. We know it’s going to be a big turnout; we’re expecting a lot of food.”

“Any amount of cans or non-perishable food that you can donate really does go very far,” Jake Wandersheid, executive director of the Food Bank of Siouxland said. “While we can stretch a dollar, having that physical item does help.”

The food drive provides the Food Bank of Siouxland with much-needed supplies for local food pantries. However, it requires a lot of manpower to sort the food so it can go out to the pantries.

“When we get an influx of 18,000 to 20,000 pounds of food all at once, that’s a lot for us to process,” Wandersheid said. “Typically we can process 5,000 pounds of food in a week. So if we can get that all in one day that helps our agencies get food to more people that need it today.”

While Siouxlanders won’t need to travel farther than their mailbox to participate in the Letter Carriers’ food drive, the Food Bank of Siouxland is asking for volunteers between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday. There will be food for volunteers while they work.

If you’re interested in volunteering at the Food Bank on May 13, contact Tiffany Kissinger at tiffany@siouxlandfoodbank.org, call the Food Bank of Siouxland at (712) 255-9741 or visit volunteersiouxland.org.