The 16th year of the Stamp Out Hunger food drive exceeded last year's collection total in the Yuma area, according to Yuma Community Food Bank, its beneficiary.

  On Saturday, area residents donated a total of 21,603 pounds of food, or 700 pounds more than the 20,900 pounds collected last year, said Shelly Barbato, food bank campaign director.

  Area residents were asked to leave nonperishable items such as canned soups and vegetables, pasta, rice and cereal alongside their mailboxes for pickup by area postal carriers making their mail deliveries Saturday.

  The food collected Saturday will go to the food bank, which distributes food boxes to the hungry and supplies area social service agencies that serve meals to those in need.

  Barbato said this year's donations in the Yuma area will provide 14,500 meals.

  The Stamp Out Hunger campaign is a nationwide effort by the National Association of Letter Carriers. Campbell's Soup Co. also takes part in the effort to collect food for the needy.

  Nationwide, Stamp Out Hunger has collected more than 836 million pounds of food since it started in 1993, Barbato said.

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William Roller can be reached at
wroller@yumasun.com or 539-6858.