That's the date for the annual Letter Carriers Food Drive, the largest one-day food drive in the United States.

"It's easy for people to participate," says Lynn Crocker, communications manager for Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, which benefits from the drive. "They just take the bag of food out to their mailbox and sit it down. The letter carriers do the rest."

Tony Cortese, president of Branch 193 of the National Association of Letter Carriers, which includes some 1,400 members working in San Jose, Campbell, Los Gatos, Saratoga, Morgan Hill, Gilroy and Milpitas, says the branch is hoping to best the record 177,688 pounds of food the carriers collected in 2004.

The Willow Glen area donated 9,723 pounds last year, up from 7,002 pounds in 2003.

"Our carriers look forward to this," Cortese says. "When the carriers get back to their stations, both carriers and management get together to help unload the vehicles. We try and make it a fun event with a barbecue. There's extra work involved, but people enjoy doing it and we try and make it a good event."

Cortese says members of the Teamsters Union volunteer their time to drive trucks lent by DHL to pick up the donated food and take it to Second Harvest. Additional help with advertising comes from Local 270 of the Laborers Union.

Crocker says all non-perishable donations are appreciated, but the Food Bank's wish list includes canned vegetables and fruit, protein items such as tuna fish and peanut butter, meals in a can like a stew or chili, rice, dried beans and pasta.

The 2004 drive collected 436,933 pounds in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, which Crocker said was distributed to those in need in both counties.

"Only 10 percent of the people we serve are homeless. Sixty percent are working families with children that just aren't making enough money. If you're earning minimum wage and pay rent and have medical expenses, it just doesn't work. And 20 percent are seniors, people trying to make ends meet and they're just not able to," Crocker says.

The other 10 percent are single people and clients who decline to state their status.

Each month Second Harvest serves 165,000 people, she says.

"We saw a dramatic increase four years ago," Crocker says. "It's stayed at that level and it's not dropping off."

This is the 13th annual national drive, but for Branch 193 it will be its 15th food drive.

"We were one of 10 cities that participated in the pilot food drive to see if it would work," Cortese says, adding that it exceeded all expectations.

"We underestimated participation so much, we were shocked," Cortese recalls. "We figured we'd collect six or seven tubs here and we ended up using hampers and boxes. We never anticipated the support."

Because of that response, the local group staged a second food drive before the national one got under way.

Holding the annual drive on the second Saturday in May coincides with a spike in need for food banks.

"We're entering that time of the year when our food from the huge holiday food drives is running out," Crocker says. "We're in need of more food at a time demand increases. Students who receive free meals and snacks during the school year are getting out for the summer."

Cortese says he believes "while there are a lot of different religions, everybody has the same belief that we should help feed the hungry."

"Most people have no problem donating to food banks, but the average person doesn't know where the food banks are and they aren't going to take the time to go out and find them," Cortese says. "We make it easy. Put the food out by your mailbox and we'll bring it in."