Mail carriers were lugging around some heavy bags Saturday, but instead of letters, they were filled with canned goods.

It was an extra duty added to their usual delivery route, but it was a welcome task — all the canned goods and non-perishable food items will be going to pantries serving those in need.

The 16th annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive, put on by the National Association of Letter Carriers, is the single largest food drive in the country, with bags sitting outside doors from Western New York to Southern California and everywhere in between.

“We just do it on massive scale for the entire country,” said David Grosskopf Jr., a mail carrier who helped coordinate the drive in the City of Tonawanda. “Instead of a church putting on food drive where everyone will come to the church and bring food, we’re coordinating with all local pantries and asking, ‘Who needs it?’”

In the City of Tonawanda, postal workers worked in the office throughout Saturday to make sure donations were directed properly.

“It’s a very chaotic day for us,” said postmaster Sheila Gavazzi, “because we’re trying to get the mail delivered without disrupting our delivery schedule and still participate in a very worthwhile cause.”

Luckily, some mail carriers had helping hands, like Rhonda Gonzalez in Niagara Falls.

Gonzalez has been volunteering to load up mail trucks with donations for years. Her husband’s involvement with the United Way got her into volunteering, but she’s been leaving food out for the yearly event long before that.

It’s an easy way for people who are able to give back to those in greater need, she said.

“We went all up and down Buffalo Avenue today,” she said, “and just to see all the people that were giving, all the bags outside — some (mail carriers) had to unload their trucks three or four times. ... It makes people feel good that they’re doing something good for someone else.”

The numbers in Western New York speak for themselves — for the past five years, Western New York has ranked No. 1 in the nation by donating and collecting more than 2.9 million pounds of food.

“This is a tradition to people — it’s the Saturday before Mother’s Day,” said Philip Buffalo of the United Way of Niagara. “I think people are expecting it and ready to give.”

The threat this year, however, was a shaky economy. More people are in need and less people can afford to give, Buffone said.

“From our statistics, there is a greater need than any time in the past,” said Philip Buffone, vice president of the United Way of Niagara. “... These food pantries and soup kitchens are seeing an increase in numbers, not just from homeless, but regular families with children.”

The Buffalo Food Pantry, for instance, has given away 400,000 pounds more food this April than it did at the same time last year.

Grosskopf said donations seemed a little slower this year, but the economy — not a weakened spirit of giving — seemed to be the culprit. As soon as residents along his route saw carriers wearing their food drive T-shirts, he said, they were asking every day when the food drive was happening.

“Little Buffalo beats the major cities every year — San Francisco, New York, Chicago, you name the city,” Grosskopf said. “Buffalo is considered a minor city and we outrank everyone every year.”

How the area will rank this year will have to remain to be seen, though. It will take about a week to get the full totals.

No matter what, the impact in the Tonawandas will be felt, Gavazzi said.