Mail carriers usually deliver and pick up packages, but they will pick up special deliveries Saturday to help those in need.

Selma’s postal service will join postal services across the nation in conducting the 23rd annual Letter Carrier’s Food Drive on May 9. Customers are asked to place a sturdy bag of non-perishable food items next to their mailboxes or in their mailboxes. The food collected locally will be donated to the Selma Area Food Bank. The National Association of Letter Carriers and the United States Postal Service will sponsor the food drive.

Selma postal service supervisor James Roberts said the drive not only means a lot to the city, but mail carriers, as well.

“Carriers go out of their way to pick up all this food on Saturday,” he said. “It’s a lot of work for them. They’re just happy to help out the needy.”

Information cards will be placed in mailboxes as a reminder of the drive.

Nationally, a whopping total of about 70 million pounds of food items was collected last year. Selma’s postal service collected approximately 6,000 to 7,000 pounds of food last year..

“It’s amazing to see the carriers pull up,” he said. “Their trucks are just loaded down with food.”