For more than 30 years, every second Saturday in May, letter carriers across the country hit the road on their routes and collect donations of non-perishable food items.
It's all part of the National Association of Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger food drive.
"Tampa and St. Pete are the number one and number two every year in collections," Michael Oakley said.
Oakley does his part in helping distribute food to people in need as he's worked with USPS for 35 years.
"It's pretty a pretty amazing you know, you have lots of people who are less fortunate than us and you have a lot of people that give a lot. So, it makes you feel really good," Oakley added.
These donations from the community help fill the shelves at Metropolitan Ministries.
"They go into our warehouse so that we can distribute to families in need and it's a really great resource especially for the summer. Summer months are usually our slower month for monetary donations and donations as a whole. So, this helps carry us through the summer and then also prepare for the holiday season," Brensy Thompson with Metropolitan Ministries explained.
Thompson said this past year people donated around 20,000 pounds worth of food. This year they hope to exceed that number.
"We're definitely seeing an increase of need over the past year, just with the state of the economy, everybody is feeling the need for assistance. It's not just single people. We're seeing people in two parent homes coming to us who are needing assistance, an increase in seniors who are on a fixed income who are needing assistance and so these donations really help us be able to serve those in the Tampa Bay area," Thompson added.
She said over the last seven years partnering with NALC it's collected more than 400,000 pounds of food items equating to nearly $1 million.
"It just makes you feel special and makes you feel that your community is behind you. They look out for each other and it's just a really good day," Oakley concluded.
A state report says hundreds of frail elderly nursing home residents were stacked side by side, head to toe in a small church with no working air conditioning or refrigerator during Hurricane Helene.
