Put food by your mailbox Saturday for the biggest annual food drive

Letter carriers are asking you to set out some food at your mailbox on May 11 — not for them, but to help restock local food pantries that are trying to recoup from an annual slowdown in donations.

It’s the nation’s and the local area’s largest single food drive of the year.

The National Association of Letter Carriers union leads the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive in some 10,000 communities nationwide each year. In St. Joseph County, the food will go to the nonprofit Food Bank of Northern Indiana.

All you have to do is set nonperishable food items next to your mailbox by 8 a.m. Put them in a sturdy bag, or if it looks like it will rain, secure them in a plastic bag. Don’t include any glass containers. If possible, items with pop-top lids are preferred.

If you won’t be home on May 11, you can also drop off food donations at any postal branch retail counter before May 11. Or you can drop them off in the orange collection barrels at Martin’s Super Market locations in South Bend, Mishawaka and Granger throughout the week of May 6.

The Food Bank’s goal is to gather 100,000 pounds of food. In 2023, it reports that it collected 54,651, compared with 80,338 pounds in 2022 and 106,498 pounds in 2021.

Here are the most needed items at the Food Bank: canned soup, boxed dinner meals, dried beans and lentils, peanut butter, jelly, breakfast cereal, macaroni and cheese, boxed noodles, canned fruit, canned vegetables (low sodium is preferred), canned chicken/tuna/Spam, rice, boxed mashed potatoes, flour, cooking oil, toiletries, personal care items and cleaning supplies.

Beyond St. Joseph County, residents typically know that their letter carriers are participating in the drive if they’ve received a post card about it in the mail.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Letter carriers seek pantry donations for Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive