Put a can of tuna in your mailbox tomorrow and you'll be helping a school-age kid during the summer who won't have access to a nutritious school lunch.

That's the message the Aloha United Way and the U.S. Postal Service are sending this week as it launches the 16th annual National Association of Letter Carriers National Food Drive. Blue plastic bags are being left in mailboxes for residents to place donations of canned food.

This year, with airlines going out of business and the economy foundering, food drive organizers are hoping that the public will be extra generous to the "Stamp Out Hunger" campaign.

"People in Hawai'i are very generous with quality food items like protein," said Lynn Ching, Aloha United Way vice president. "The food drive really helps to sustain the food banks, which get tapped during the summer."

Last year the local effort collected 310,000 pounds of food. Nationwide, more than 70 million pounds of food was collected last year. The drive is touted as the largest one-day food drive effort in the United States.

The food drive is being organized in conjunction with Summerlin Hawaii-HMA Inc., the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, the Hawai'i Government Employees Association, the Hawai'i State Teachers Association, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Service Printers, several private schools and the state Department of Education.

"We're not in a position to be picky, but if we were asked what kind of food we'd want on Saturday, we'd ask for protein," Ching said. "We are concerned that we might not collect as much as in the past, but there's more need this year."

Leading the drive are the letter carriers who will collect food tomorrow and deliver it to the Hawaii Foodbank, where volunteers will sort the canned foods. This year the theme is healthy, protein-based food. Last week, a tuna tower was erected in front of the Downtown post office to kick off the food drive.

"We'll accept anything," said Adele Yoshikawa, a postal worker and food drive coordinator. "We're trying to focus on healthier alternatives. We've always found the public to be really supportive."