The Hawai'i Foodbank collected enough food on Saturday during the one-day letter carrier collection to carry the agency through the summer.

A record 43 percent more food was collected, sorted and crated this year compared to last year when 245,000 pounds were collected, said Mike Kajiwara, the Hawai'i Foodbank director of product donations. An estimated 350,000 pounds of food was collected during the one-day drive.

"My feet are sore and I left tired at 11:30 p.m. last night (Saturday), but I left with a smile on my face," he said. "Without volunteers and the help from the National Association of Letter Carriers, we wouldn't be able to have gotten so much. It's a good feeling."

The state's letter carriers collected canned goods during the National Association of Letter Carriers' drive. Four containers of food still need to be sorted today. The Foodbank has put out a call to volunteers for today from 8 a.m. to noon to help sort the donations at the Foodbank, at 2611 Kilihau St. in Mapunapuna.

This year, residents received blue plastic bags in their mail boxes to place their donations in. Kajiwara said the bags helped increase donations, but so did the outreach programs to schoolchildren and the community.

"People are more aware through previous food jobs about hunger in Hawai'i," Kajiwara said. "We had a lot of awareness about the Foodbank's need."

The Foodbank provides food to 270 agencies on O'ahu; the agencies give the food to needy families and individuals.