DENVER, CO — On Saturday, May 8, Colorado and Wyoming letter carriers will once again collect food on their routes to feed the hungry in their communities. May 8th 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 8th, before mail delivery.

Items most needed are canned meats, soups, fruits and vegetables; and dry/non-perishable packaged items with lots of protein/carbohydrates like powdered milk, pasta, cereals and dried packaged vegetables like mashed potatoes and stuffing. About 1.3 lbs. equates to a full meal, according to food bank officials.

All the food collected goes to local community food banks and pantries for distribution to those who most need it throughout the year. In 2009, Colorado and Wyoming residents combined to donate more than one million pounds of food in the postal drive to feed the hungry in their states.

Last year’s drive collected a record 73.4 million pounds nationwide to help feed America’s hungry. This is the 18th year of the postal food drive. Over 10,000 communities and Post Offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam are participating this year.

"We encourage postal customers throughout our great states of Colorado and Wyoming to again give generously to our letter carriers' food drive on Saturday, May 8th,” says Dawn Wallace, Denver letter carrier and food drive coordinator for the Denver metro area.

“With the continuing tough economy, more people remain out of jobs this year and many are struggling to feed their families with more of the needy going hungry. Your food donations will help out those who most need it. We thank our letter carriers, food drive volunteers and sponsors, community food banks and pantries, and our Colorado and Wyoming postal customers for helping to stamp out hunger.”

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A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no direct support from taxpayers. With 36,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, the Postal Service relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $68 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 28th in the 2009 Fortune 500.