NOVI — The National Association of Letter Carriers’ annual Stamp Out Hunger campaign is set to take place May 10, and local postal carriers will be trying something new this year.

In an effort to rev up donations of nonperishable foods, carriers will not only be distributing postcards to homes across metro Detroit this week, but separate grocery bags will be distributed to homes next week, just a few days before the drive.

“We’re doing something different this year,” said Jim Hunter, regional coordinator for the letter carriers. “We have four bag sponsors, so what we’re doing for delivery and notifying people is we have a food drive postcard the week before the drive. That’s what we’re doing right now, and then next week we’re going to be delivering just a plastic bag.”

In years past, the carriers have only had sponsorships for the postage on the postcards, which would have a grocery bag stapled to them. This year, due to five bag sponsors — Kroger, Advia Credit Union, Farbman Group, Outfront Media and TB Bank — they will be able to do them separately to bring more attention to the need for the campaign.

Hunter said that they have not been able to do it this way before, as the cost to distribute 1 million bags, which carry additional postage in order to have the carriers distribute them, is around $60,000.

“Our national partners have gone above and beyond to have a bag printed with postage so that it can be mailed separately and delivered by letter carriers,” said Kevin “Ohio” Walker, the Walled Lake post office food drive coordinator. “So we are actually reaching out twice to give our customers reminders that this food drive is here. The first one (postcard) is to say, ‘Hey, this is happening.’ The second one (the bag) is to say, ‘Hey, this is how you can donate food without leaving the house.’”

The sponsorships for the bags were acquired by Gleaners Community Food Bank. Gleaners is one of the primary recipients of the food items, along with several other local pantries that they partner with across the state, such as the Salvation Army and St. James Catholic Church in Novi.

“It was a big ask, and Gleaners was able to pull that off for us,” Hunter said.

Hunter, who has been involved with the food drive since it was created, said he is excited to see if the postcard and bag delivered on consecutive weeks increases the food donations they receive this year. According to Hunter, studies have shown that by providing a bag, it increases the donations by 30%.

“I guess it’s just the convenience of the bag,” he said.”Maybe because this year the bag is sponsored, maybe people feel like, ‘Wow, they really took the time to get this bag to us, now maybe I should put a couple cans in there.’”

“I have always been a proponent that it is a great touchpoint for the postal customer,” Walker said. “The card is nice because it is a piece of information, the bag itself is the action piece, because it says. ‘Hey fill this. Leave it at your mailbox and your letter carrier will pick it up on Saturday, May 10.’”

Hunter said that the pantries are in dire need this year.

“They’re really scraping. So, this is going to be a big one this year. We’re going to really try to get our numbers up,” he said.

According to Walker, in the Walled Lake Branch, which delivers to Novi residents living in ZIP codes 48377 and 48374, the need has “absolutely” continued to increase.

“Unfortunately, the resources that the pantries are getting have been dropping. So they’re getting hit both ways,” Walker said. “Their number of clients have been increasing, I think, two maybe almost threefold, while the stuff that is brought in through grants and maybe the stuff that they can get in through Gleaners does reduce.”

He said that he lives near Pontiac, and the line for the food pantry distribution when he drives by is at least 50 cars deep every week.

“We have benefitted in past years from the Postal Service’s Stamp Out Hunger program and that helped our food pantry to reach out to more people in need. It is a commendable program which is very important and encouraged to continue, in order to assist the local food pantries (to) provide for those in need,” Sister Clare Emeruom, pastoral associate and evangelical charity director at St. James Catholic Church, said in an email.

The goal for the Walled Lake post office is 36,000 pounds of food for the area it serves.

“Stamp Out Hunger is a very important source of food for our region; in the past three years, the drive has brought in over 2.3 million pounds of food. Last year, however, Gleaners saw a drop in donations, finishing at just under 565,000 pounds,” Gleaners said in a letter to postal carriers. “On May 10th, you have the rare opportunity to make a huge difference in the lives of over 600,000 individuals dealing with food insecurity in Southeast Michigan.”