NATCHEZ &045; Natchez postal workers will join with other letter carriers and post offices nationwide on Saturday to help fight hunger.

During the week leading up to the annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, postal workers will leave cards in mailboxes to remind everyone to contribute some non-perishable foods to the campaign, said carrier Frank Patti.

&uot;We’ll deliver the cards maybe two or three days during the week to remind them,&uot; Patti said. &uot;On Saturday, carriers will pick up the food left in or near the mailboxes when they deliver the mail.&uot;

Items donated may include canned meats, canned fish, canned vegetables, pasta, cereal and other non-perishable foods, he said.

Adam Welch, president of the Natchez branch of the National Association of Letter Carriers, said the food drive has made a difference throughout the country and in Natchez, too.

&uot;This is nationwide and is endorsed at the national level as a joint effort of management and the union to work for the betterment of each community,&uot; Welch said. &uot;Our postmaster, Bill Farrior, is in complete agreement with this. We work together on this day.&uot;

The 2004 drive nationwide collected 70.9 million pounds of food. In Natchez, carriers collected 5,500 pounds of food, which was divided between the Sunshine Shelter and the Guardian Shelter. This year, the postal workers are adding the Pendleton Group Home as a third agency to share in the donated goods. &uot;This helps people who are really in need,&uot; said Patti, a 31-year veteran of the postal system and associated with the food drive since it began in Natchez five years ago. &uot;This shows we’re out there to serve the people not just by delivering the mail but by helping needy people, too.&uot;

The project began in the early 1990s. More than 10,000 cities and towns take part. An estimated 30 million people face hunger every day in America, including 12 million children. Welch said the donations have increased each year in Natchez. &uot;We’ve increased by about 1,000 pounds each year,&uot; he said. &uot;This year we’d like to go to 10,000 pounds.&uot;

Nineteen city carriers and about 18 rural carriers join to cover not only the city but all of Adams County, Welch said.

After collecting the goods on Saturday, the letter carriers will gather at the back of the main post office and weigh the food and begin immediately to deliver it to the three agencies, he said. &uot;We’re just a small community, but every bit we can help is used by the people who get it,&uot; he said.