Residents of Grainger and Hamblen counties are encouraged to take part in the annual “Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive this Saturday, May 9 by placing a bag of nonperishable food items next to their mailbox for pickup.

Local letter carriers will collect the donations as part of the National Association of Letter Carriers nationwide one-day effort. All items collected will remain within local communities and benefit area food pantries including the Daily Bread Community Kitchen in Morristown. The Daily Bread Community Kitchen President Larry Shropshire said that this makes a big difference in the community.

“Without this, we probably wouldn’t be able to operate,” he said. “You’re talking about 20,000 cans of food.”

The Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive has been held for more than 30 years and is recognized as the nation’s largest one-day food drive, helping provide millions of pounds of food to those in need across the country each year.

Postal carriers in Hamblen and Grainger counties put plastic bags in mailboxes. Residents follow up to fill each bag with nonperishable food items to be collected Saturday. Last year’s event in Morristown collected more than 22,000 pounds of food, which was a record-setting event.

The Morristown Post Office received an award from the U.S. Postal Service for collecting the most food in their division, Shropshire said.

Postmaster Brady Horton, along with his family, will be along to help with collections Saturday.

“The need is as much as ever been,” Shropshire said. “We’ve been handing out food boxes to people. This is a big event for the community. We’re so thankful for the community how it gets behind this. The Lord is good.”