Newark, NJ - Experts estimate that 30 million people face hunger every day in America, including 12 million children. On Saturday, May 10, 2008, letter carriers throughout the Garden State will join their fellow postal employees and thousands of volunteers in more than 10,000 cities and towns across America to combat hunger by participating in the 16^th Annual National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Food Drive. Letter carriers will help stamp out hunger by collecting non-perishable donations as they deliver mail along their postal routes on May 10.

Letter carriers are urging customers to leave a sturdy bag of non-perishable boxed or canned food items, such as soup, pasta, canned vegetables and fruits, cereal or rice next to their mailboxes on Saturday, May 10, 2008. The carriers will collect and deliver the donations to a local food bank or pantry.

Food bank and pantry officials suggest that late spring is the perfect time for the food drive since donations from the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season are beginning to run low.

The 16th annual NALC National Food Drive is the largest one-day food drive in the nation.