Letter carriers will collect grocery bags with donations of non-perishable food — canned soup, meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, pasta and rice — left at residential mailboxes on Saturday morning. 

"We're hoping to get 70,000 pounds of food" for 20 Bloomington-Normal food pantries as well as food pantries in several area communities, said Kim Marshall, a Bloomington letter carrier and food drive coordinator for letter carriers union Branch 522.

The Hy-Vee supermarket in Bloomington has $5 and $10 pre-packaged bags for people to purchase and place at their mailboxes, Marshall said.

The letter carriers already have 500 pounds, thanks to Illinois Wesleyan University students who dropped off food in residence hall lobbies as the students moved out last week, Marshall said.

On Saturday afternoon, active and retired letter carriers and representatives of other labor unions will load donated food onto trucks from Midwest Food Bank. Food pantries will pick up food at the food bank next week.

Representatives of food pantries have said the drive is helpful because food donations drop after the holidays while demand increases when children are home during summer.