Volunteers with the Colquitt County Food Bank celebrate delivery of a pallet of food donated by Publix supermarket Tuesday. From left are Dorothy Johnson, Publix Manager Pamela Sanders, Iris Bivins, Christopher Taylor, food bank Director Laura Keith and Hugh Matthews.

MOULTRIE, Ga. — Moultrie-based mail carriers will be participating in the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive on Saturday, May 11.

The National Association of Letter Carriers — in conjunction with the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, the U.S. Postal Service, other unions, businesses and the United Way —  will pick up nonperishable food left in bags beside mailboxes along their routes to give to local food banks.

“Led by letter carriers represented by the National Association of Letter Carriers (AFL-CIO), with help from rural letter carriers, other postal employees and other volunteers, the drive has delivered more than one billion pounds of food the past 25 years,” according to a statement on the Postal Service’s website, about.usps.com.

For many years, branches of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) collected food for the needy in their areas. A coordinated pilot drive was held in 10 cities in October 1991, and it proved so successful that work began immediately on a nation-wide effort.

“After receiving input from food banks and pantries, the NALC decided that the best time of year for this food drive to take place would be in the late spring,” according to the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive entry at Wikipedia. “Most food banks start running out of food this time of year due to the largest donations being made around Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“A revamped food drive was organized for May 15, 1993,” the Wikipedia article said. “The goal for the organization was to have at least one branch of the National Association of Letter Carriers participate from all 50 states. The first year of the nationwide effort collected over 11 million pounds of food, which was a one-day record in the United States, and with more than 220 union branches covering more than 1,000 communities participating.

“Thereafter, the national drive was set for the second Saturday of May each year.”

Officials with the Colquitt County Food Bank are looking forward to the event. Until recent donations picked up, the shelves at the food bank were bare.

The food bank is also reaching out to post offices in rural Colquitt County, food bank Director Laura Keith said Tuesday. They’re putting donation boxes in those post offices so that residents — many of whom receive their mail in post office boxes — can drop off nonperishable food there too.