Saturday's thunderstorms did not disrupt Gainesville's mail delivery, nor did they deter letter carriers from collecting 56,000 pounds of food for the nationwide Stamp Out Hunger food drive.
"It's business as usual," said Bill Logeson, Gainesville's postmaster. "We still deliver mail today, so we're still going to pick up the food."
Now in its 19th year, Stamp Out Hunger occurs the second Saturday of every May and is the largest food drive in the nation.
Primarily organized by the National Association of Letter Carriers, donations are left in mailboxes and picked up by letter carriers as they go along their usual mail routes.
While the rain poured down, Logeson and about 40 volunteers stood on the 34th Street post office's covered loading dock.
The trucks started rolling in around 3 p.m.
Volunteers unloaded 600 pounds of canned goods, peanut butter, cereal and pasta from each truck waiting trucks from four local food pantries receiving donations.
These donations come at a perfect time, Logeson said, as food pantries usually see an increase in donations during the holiday season, but fall into a lull during the summer months.
Coordinators were expecting this year's drive to surpass last year's efforts, which collected 79,000 pounds of food.
The rain had a lot to do with the shortage, said Tony Tallerico, NALC food drive coordinator.
Letter carriers will continue to pick up donations throughout the rest of the week.Tallerico said he expects to see another 10,000 pounds of food donated by Saturday.
"We probably won't get that ultimate number we hit last year," he said. "But every charity will still get 16,000 to 17,000 pounds of food. That should get them through the holiday season."
