SMOKEY POINT — The Marysville, Arlington and Smokey Point post offices will be taking part in the annual Letter Carriers Food Drive on May 11 to benefit the Marysville and Arlington community food banks, but the first step of supporting this campaign is to check your mailbox for a yellow collection bag during the week of May 6.

Residents of Marysville, Arlington and Smokey Point are being asked to place their non-perishable food items in those bags by the morning of Saturday, May 11, for mail carriers to pick up, with the Marysville Post Office collecting for the Marysville Community Food Bank, and the Arlington and Smokey Point post offices collecting for the Arlington Community Food Bank.

“This drive is essential for covering the summer period when kids are at home and family needs are high,” said Dell Deierling, director of the Marysville Community Food Bank. “Last year, the drive brought in 26,228 pounds of food to our food bank. Let’s hit the 30,000 pound mark this year, Marysville.”

Jerrie Inman, a member of the Arlington Community Food Bank Board of Directors, deemed the Letter Carriers Food Drive the largest food drive of the year for her food bank.

“The food we receive during the holiday season just barely gets us to this food drive,” Inman said. “Right now, our cupboards are very bare. The food we receive in this food drive will hopefully get us through to the holidays.”

While most pickups will be conducted by mail carriers, Inman assured donors that other vehicles which bear signs promoting the Letter Carriers Food Drive are also authorized to retrieve those yellow collection bags.

“We’ve had people call us up worried about it, but it’s okay,” Inman laughed.