Food donations can be made without leaving home Saturday during the 24th annual Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.

During the nation’s largest one-day food drive, U.S. Postal Service mail carriers will collect food across the Peninsula — except for Sequim.

“Sequim does theirs one week later. That’s how big the Irrigation Festival is here,” said Jessica Hernandez, executive director of the Port Angeles Food Bank and a countywide organizer of community food programs.

Mail carriers are leaving reminder cards and donation bags in mailboxes this week for residents to fill with nonperishable food, which goes directly to local food banks.

Donations left in or beside the mailbox will be collected by letter carriers during their regular rounds in Port Angeles, Forks and Port Townsend.

When carriers are loaded down with food, other post office employees will meet them to take the food a distribution point, said Jeff Goodall, a Port Townsend postal clerk who has helped with the drive in the past.

“It’s a lot of food,” Goodall said.

Other Jefferson County post offices are not taking part in the collection.

Randy Swenson, donation coordinator for Olympic Community Action Programs, said food collected in Port Townsend-area ZIP codes will be distributed primarily to the Port Townsend Food Bank, but other Jefferson County food banks also will receive some of the wealth.

On Saturday only, donations to food banks can also be made by check, written out to the food bank of the donor’s choice and left in an envelope in the mailbox marked “Postal Carrier.”

Thanks to purchasing agreements, food banks can purchase food cheaper, at 40 cents per pound, from a food bank distributor in Seattle, beating any price donors can get by shopping for donations, said Shirley Moss, manager of the Port Townsend Food Bank at 1925 Blaine St.

“One dollar spent at the grocery store can buy 25 pounds of food,” Moss said.

However, the assortment that comes from people cleaning out their pantries can provide more variety, she added.

Moss noted that cans should be free of dents, rust or bulging.

Moss and Hernandez said at this time of year, the biggest needs are canned proteins such as fish, chili or soups, canned fruits and pasta meals such as macaroni and cheese.

No home-canned items or previously opened items can be accepted, Hernandez said.

Expired food will be accepted and reviewed by food bank volunteers, she said.

Last year, the national drive collected approximately 71 million pounds of nonperishable food, according to the National Association of Letter Carriers, the lead organization that sponsors the annual food drive.

The drive is held the second Saturday each May, and the grand total of food collected for the past 23 years adds up to more than 1.4 billion pounds.

It is timed to fill food pantries just before many school systems end their academic years, which leaves many children without regular meals with the end of free and reduced breakfast and lunch programs.

The food drive’s national partners are the U.S. Postal Service, the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, United Way Worldwide, the AFL-CIO and Valassis.

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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.