GREENSBORO – Instead of making drop-offs, letter carriers are hoping to make some pretty large pick-ups this weekend.

The United States Postal Service is holding its 15th annual Stamp Out Hunger campaign.

Bins at the main post office on Murrow Boulevard are full of mail, but this weekend, workers are hoping to replace the parcels with food.

“On Saturday, May 12, the letter carriers will be coming by the house delivering mail, and we’ll be able to pick up any non-perishable item that you leave by your mailbox,” said Darlene Evans of USPS.

For the past 15 years, the USPS, along with the National Association of Letter Carriers, has been collecting food for the Stamp Out Hunger campaign – collecting more than 1 billion pounds of food.

“We can use canned soup, canned fruit, canned vegetables, canned meats,” Evans said.

Workers said neither rain, nor sleep, nor a few extra routes will keep them from their appointed rounds this weekend, to top last year’s take.

“Just leave your non-perishable canned items by your box and your carrier will pick it up by 9:00 Saturday morning,” Evans said.

A lot of the food collected will go to Greensboro Urban Ministry, where volunteers will sort it, bag it and give it to underprivileged families.

“During the summer months when school is out, we get more kids coming in that really need food,” said Pat Spain of Greensboro Urban Ministry.

Greensboro Urban Ministry served more than 25,000 families through its emergency assistance program in 2006.

Spain said the help would not have been possible if not for the Stamp Out Hunger food drive.

“Last year, we got over 50,000 pounds of food over here,” she said. “And that really helps our budget.”

Workers in Greensboro collected more than 79,000 pounds of food last year. They hope to collect 100,000 pounds this weekend.