World's largest 1-day food drive comes to Phoenix

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - This Saturday is the largest one-day food drive in the world and you can help participate without even leaving your driveway.

"We're very proud to be apart of this and I just want to thank all of our postal patrons because without them it wouldn't be possible," Mike Crowley said.

It all started here in Phoenix roughly 40 years ago. As a letter carrier, Mike Crowley and his post office started stamping out hunger by collecting cans of food that people left by their mailboxes.

"We weren't able to do anything on the clock, so we had to do everything off the clock and our customers were so pleased to put the food out they knew what we were doing," he said.

The kind act spread like wildfire and then one day Mike got a phone call.

"It got attention of the National Association of Letter Carriers," he said. "Our president gave me a call one afternoon and he said, 'Mike, we're really impressed with what you've done in Arizona, can this go national?'" he said.

Now, nearly 70 million pounds of food are collected every year during the nationwide drive.

Stanley Garcia has taken part for the last 24 years.

"It feels great because you see the community get involved and it makes us feel great because we're doing something for the community," he said.

They expect to collect half-a-million pounds of food in Arizona alone and all donations stay here locally.

"Summer is coming and it's the hardest time for food banks," said Jerry Brown, of St. Mary's Food Bank. "Our donations are at its lowest point, but the need is the most. Kids are just about to be let out of school for the summer, they don't get those free breakfast and lunches at school; they need to be fed three times a day. This is the drive we depend on."