Letter carriers in Warren County will be doing double duty Saturday as they do their rounds.

They’ll be gathering bags of nonperishable foods as they make postal deliveries during the National Association of Letter Carriers 26th Stamp Out Hunger food drive, with the donations going to local food pantries and local social service organizations.

Locally, the food drive will be done in honor of Kimmy Melton, a student at Warren Central High School and the daughter of Eddie and Amy Melton. Melton, who died in 2012, was passionate about helping others and had decided she wanted her friends to bring canned goods to her birthday parties in lieu of gifts.

“We will be delivering paper bags for the food drive Tuesday and Wednesday,” said Tommy Atlas, food drive coordinator for National Association of Letter Carriers Vicksburg Branch 94.

“Saturday, people can put the bags next to their mailbox or in it,” he said. “If they are not going to be home Saturday, they can bring the bags to the post office and there will be a bin in the lobby where they can put the bag, or they can leave the bag next to their mailbox on Monday and we will pick it up.”

Last year, the food drive collected 75 million pounds of food nationally to feed an estimated 64 million people. Since if began, the food drive has collected 1.6 billion pounds of food nationally and in the American possessions of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Guam.