Many people in Dallas County will benefit from Saturday’s pickups by the Selma Post Office.

Along with their daily mail deliveries and collections, mail carriers added another item to their list in picking up canned goods for their annual Stamp Out Hunger campaign.

Throughout the campaign Dallas County residents were encouraged to fill the brown paper bags in their mailboxes with canned goods and leave them for postal workers to pick up.

Judging by the boxes that were seen stacked all over town, residents responded positively.

Food drives like this are especially important in the Black Belt during these tough economic conditions.

Our region is one of the most economically depressed in the nation and there are a number of families in the area who benefit greatly from collections just like this.

During the holiday season food drives and can collections are not hard to find and they also help many people.

However, there is a tremendous need for collections like this the other 11 months of the year.

The post office, which holds the food drive every May, has identified that needy families should not just be a priority during the holidays.

We need more collections and more people raising awareness throughout the year.

People often donate in November and December without a second thought because it is the thing to do.

However, we need to  keep those needy families in our thoughts throughout the rest of the year.