Charles Warner|Daily Times These are two of the eight "All Purpose Containers" at the Union Post Office filled with canned and other non-perishable goods collected by letter carriers Saturday during the 20th annual "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive. The Union Post Office collected approximately three tons of donated food which will be turned over to local food pantries.

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Charles Warner|Daily Times These are some of the canned and other non-perishable goods donated by Union area residents Saturday during the 20th annual "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive. The items were collected by the letter carriers of the Union Post Office and in a container set up in the post office lobby.

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The 20th annual “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive was an overwhelming success in Union this past Saturday with the letter carriers of the Union Post Office collecting roughly six times the amount of food they collected in 2011.

“We collected approximately three tons of food,” Union Postmaster Robert Fowler said Tuesday. “That’s six times the nearly 1,000 pounds we collected last year.”

Stamp Out Hunger, which is held the second Saturday in May, is the nation’s largest single-day food drive. The food is collected by the 210,000 members of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) on behalf of Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization. The drive is also supported by the Rural Carriers of the US Post Office.

In 2011, 70.2 million pounds of food were donated through Stamp Out Hunger, making it the eighth consecutive year that at least 70 million pounds of food was collected by letter carriers.

While nationwide the food drive is on behalf of Feeding America, local post offices have the option of donating the food they collect to food pantries in their communities and Fowler said the Union post office is exercising that option.

“We are contacting local churches and non-profit organizations that provide food to the needy to see if they want what we have collected,” Fowler said. “We will coordinate with them and arrange for them to pick up the food we have here.”

Most of the food was collected Saturday by letter carriers making deliveries from customers who left out bags containing canned and other non-perishable foods by their mailboxes prior to the time of their regular mail delivery. For those who get their mail at the post office and wanted to donate, there was a container in the lobby Saturday for them to place their donations.

Fowler thanked the customers of the Union Post Office for their support in this year’s Stamp Out Hunger food drive.

“We appreciate the support of the community assisting with providing food stuffs for the members of the community that are in need,” Fowler said.