About 35 million Americans are hungry or living on the brink of hunger and the United States Postal Service is once again doing something about it.

For the 14th consecutive year, the Campbell Soup Company and U.S. Postal Service are partnering with the National Association of Letter Carriers to co-sponsor "Stamp Out Hunger," the nation's largest single-day food drive.

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Fort Scott Post Office mail carriers, for the fifth straight year, will collect non-perishable food items on Saturday, May 10, to help needy families in the community. The Fort Scott Post Office will join thousands of other post offices nationwide in the effort to help end hunger.

In addition to their regular mail delivery duties, local city and rural carriers will collect bagged food from area residents who wish to make a donation to the food drive. These residents are asked to leave food by their mailboxes before the carrier arrives on Saturday.

After the food is collected, it is taken to the local post office and later delivered to The Beacon, a local food pantry and community assistance agency, FSPO carrier Dale Lockwood said.

Carriers will collect non-perishable food items such as canned meats and fish, canned soup, juice, pasta, vegetables, cereal and rice. Residents who make donations are asked not to include items that have expired or food in glass containers.

Last year during the food drive, Fort Scott Post Office employees delivered two truckloads of food, estimated at about 1,700 pounds, to The Beacon to supply food for numerous low-income families in Bourbon County, FSPO supervisor Todd McDermed said.

McDermed added that postal carriers will continue to distribute information about the food drive on Thursday and Friday. After the food is collected, it will be brought back to the post office, sorted and weighed before being delivered to The Beacon.

Each post office nationwide must report the total weight of the donated food that is received during the food drive, he said.

More than 70 million pounds of food was delivered last year through the "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive, a statement from the National Association of Letter Carriers said.

For more information about the food drive and to learn more facts about hunger nationwide, visit www.helpstampouthunger.com on the Internet.