A mail carrier picks up food from a mailbox during a previous Stamp Out Hunger event. This year’s event is set for Saturday. (Courtesy photo)

MARQUETTE — On Saturday, Marquette letter carriers will again help Stamp Out Hunger across America with the community’s help.

In the 30 years since it began, the Stamp Out Hunger effort is the nation’s largest single-day food drive, with letter carriers having collected more than 1.82 billion pounds of food from postal customers.

To help Stamp Out Hunger in Marquette this year, leave a sturdy bag containing nonperishable foods, such as canned soup, canned vegetables, pasta, rice or cereal next to your mailbox before regular mail delivery on Saturday. Food items should be in nonbreakable containers, such as boxes and cans. Local letter carriers will then collect donations from homes across Marquette County and deliver them to Marquette food pantries, including the Salvation Army, St Vincent de Paul, Room at the Inn, Janzen House and the Women’s Center.

“Food security continues to be a vital concern in Marquette County,” said Andrew Rickauer, executive director for the United Way of Marquette County, in a news release. “The timing is important, with food banks, pantries and shelters running low on donations from the winter holidays and with summer approaching, when most school meal programs are suspended.”

Several national partners are assisting The National Association of Letter Carriers in the food drive: the U.S. Postal Service, United Way Worldwide, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, Vericast, the AFL-CIO, Valpak, the Kellogg Co. and CVS Health.

For more information about the food drive, visit www.uwmqt.org or www.nalc.org/community-service/food-drive.