BOISE, ID — On Saturday, May 9th, Idaho’s letter carriers will again collect food on their routes to feed the hungry in their communities. May 9 is the annual letter carriers food drive across America.

Postal customers wishing to donate food should put canned, packaged and non-perishable food items in a plastic bag, and leave it by your mailbox on Sat., May 9th, before mail delivery.

Items most needed by food banks are canned meats and tuna, canned soup, dried milk, and canned fruits and vegetables. Also needed are dry and packaged items with lots of protein/carbohydrates including pasta, cereal, powdered milk, and dry packaged vegetables like mashed potatoes, stuffing, etc. About 1.3 lbs. of food equates to a full meal.

Idaho residents donated more than 437,000 pounds to the letter carriers’ food drive in 2008. All the food collected goes to local community food banks and pantries for distribution to those who most need it throughout the year.

Last year’s postal food drive collected a record 73.1 million pounds nationwide. This is the 17th year of the annual drive which is the largest one-day food drive in the country. Nearly a billion pounds of food collected by letter carriers have fed America’s hungry since 1993. A total of 10,000 communities and Post Offices in all 50 states are participating this year.

Some of the many Idaho Post Offices and letter carriers collecting food on their routes for the needy on May 9th include: Boise, Blackfoot, Burley, Caldwell, Coeur d’Alene, Emmett, Idaho Falls, Jerome, Lewiston, Malad City, Meridian, Mountain Home, Nampa, Pocatello, Rexburg, Sandpoint, St. Maries, Twin Falls and several other offices.

Media can check with their Post Office for more information, and to do advance and May 9 stories showing carriers collecting the food on their routes.

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Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/welcome.htm.

An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 149 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes, six days a week. It has 34,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products and services, not tax dollars, to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.