CENTRE — The National Association of Letter Carriers will hold its annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive Saturday, May 12.

All citizens are urged to place non-perishable food donations beside their mailbox before their mail is delivered May 12 for pick up. The letter carrier will take all food items to the local food bank or pantry to be distributed to needy families in Cherokee County.

This food drive benefits the local needy families with all food collected by the letter carriers in the Centre office being donated to the Cherokee County DHR and Crisis Center.

Food items that will be helpful include canned meats, hearty soups, vegetables, peanut butter, pasta, rice, cereal, or any non-perishable foods in non-breakable containers such as boxes or cans.

The effort by members of the National Association of Letter Carriers (AFL-CIO) in conjunction with the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, US Postal Service, United Way, Campbell's Soup, Valpak, Feeding America, AFL-CIO, Uncle Bob's Self Storage and numerous volunteers has made this the nation's largest one-day food drive.

The nation's 210,000 letter carriers will celebrate Stamp Out Hunger's 20th anniversary in 2012. In two decades, the event has collected over 1 billion lbs. of food. Last year, Americans donated over 70 million lbs., marking the eighth straight year that threshold has been surpassed.

This food drive helps maintain local food banks during the critical summer months when many needy children are without school lunch programs and supplies are historically low. Campbell's is kicking off this year's drive by pledging to donate 1 million lbs. of food for those in need.

Local food banks are in urgent need of support from citizens to help their community by donating non-perishable food items. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's annual study of food security in the United States, the number of Americans living in food insecure homes was nearly 49 million in 2011, and one in five was a child (16 million).

For more information about the Stamp Out Hunger food drive, contact your local post office or visit www.helpstampouthunger.com.