By The Daily News

This Saturday the National Association of Letter Carriers will conduct their 15th annual food drive, and local organizers are hoping for a strong response from the community.

Letter carriers in Kelso and Longview will leave blue plastic donation bags in mail boxes on Thursday, and they and their families will pick up the food on Saturday.

Donations will be brought to Help Warehouse in the CAP building, located at 1526 Commerce Ave. in Longview or to the Post Office in Kelso.

The drive in this area is organized by the National Association of Letter Carriers Locals 2214 and 2103. The postal food drive is the second largest community-wide food drive of the year, after Walk n’ Knock in early December, according to CAP.

The drive collected 56,000 pounds of food in 2006 and 55,000 pounds last year. The record is 60,000 pounds, collected in 2002.

Food collection bags this year were donated by the Pioneer Lions, the Monticello Lions, Early Bird Lions, and the Longview Junior Service League.

“The need for food remains steady,” Lois Shelton, Help Warehouse Program manager, said in a press release from the Lower Columbia Community Action Program. “For people living on the edge, every little increase in the cost of living, like the recent increases in gas and food prices, can tip them over that edge.”

Area food banks give out an average of 5,000 food boxes to people in need each month. In March, over 5,900 food boxes were distributed, according to CAP.

For more information about the postal food drive, call CAP at 360-425-3430 or 800-383-2101.