The latest local news, weather and high school sports from the Heartland

OTTUMWA, IOWA -- Mailmen across the country were pulling double duty Saturday collecting food as they delivered your mail.

Saturday marked the 18th annual “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers.

The Ottumwa post office collected 7,000 pounds of food benefiting the Southern Iowa Food Bank and The Lord’s Cupboard.

In Ottumwa, they added some new hands and a new program. Boy Scout Troop 11 sat and collected food at the Hy-Vee’s and Wal-Mart. They collected roughly 450 pounds.

If you forgot to put your food out today, it is not too late to donate.

“If you have forgotten, it’s OK to leave it out at your mailbox on Monday. We will be picking up again if we need to or you can bring it down to the post office and we can certainly collect it there,” said Ottumwa coordinator Randall Lien.

Postal workers were also busy collecting in Missouri. Kirksville is distributing their collection among three organizations, Salvation Army Food Pantry, the Community Food Depot, and Love INC at the Kirksville Nazarene Church.

Lien said nationwide, the one billionth pound of food was expected to be collected in this years drive.  

Because of the “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive, KTVO also looked into the size of the hunger issue in Southeast Iowa.

Neil Abbott of Southern Iowa Food Bank said they distribute between 100,000 and 150,000 pounds of food each month.

As a food bank, they sell and distribute to food pantries such as the Lord’s Cupboard, which distributes roughly 5,000 pounds of food each month.

Abbott says the most they charge is 14 cents per pound, meaning monetary donations to local food pantries can go a long way.