Letter Carriers (NALC) around the nation Saturday collected millions of pounds of food for families in need during the union’s 20th annual “Stamp Out Hunger Food” drive. An official total isn’t available yet, but the NALC is hoping to best last year’s total of more than 70 million pounds.

In Los Angeles, Red Godfrey, the AFL-CIO executive director for community services, reports the response from Angelenos has been overwhelming, with an estimated 300,000 pounds collected, far out distancing last year’s 88,000-pound total.

More than 1.1 billion pounds of food has been collected and distributed to food banks and families in the food drive’s history. Says NALC President Fredric Rolando:

For two decades now, our annual national drive has proved critical in helping millions of American families—our customers—who are struggling to make ends meet during this continuing recession.