The annual pre-Thanksgiving Pack the Bus food drive will be held Saturday, Nov. 18, in Lewiston and Auburn.

The need is great this year, according to the St. Mary’s Food Pantry.

Volunteers from the food pantry will be at Shaw’s stores on Center Street in Auburn and East Avenue in Lewiston, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Food or cash will be accepted.

The food drives are held twice a year and provide critical support for the food pantry, according to a news release from St. Mary’s Nutritional Center.

The pantry will distribute nearly 500 boxes with Thanksgiving fixings before the holiday, including stuffing, potatoes, gravy and cranberry sauce.

Besides Thanksgiving food, other items that are needed include unsweetened peanut butter, dry beans, whole-wheat pasta, whole-grain rice and non-sugary cereals, along with fresh produce and frozen meats. Also, the pantry gets many requests for baby items, including formula and diapers. 

The food pantry is seeing a marked increase in need for help, and is serving more than 500 people each week. The pantry also provides lots of volunteer opportunities for community members. More than 250 people contributed over 3,000 volunteer hours in 2016. The pantry made some 350,000 pounds of food available, including 150,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables.

The pantry is on track to double those numbers in 2017, according to the news release.

Shaw’s Supermarkets and Hudson Bus Lines are supporters of this food drive, as they have been for years. In addition to the many pantry volunteers, others helping to staff the Pack the Bus food drive will be Lewiston High School’s Junior ROTC cadets, who will be at both supermarkets.

Wolfpack Fitness members will help unload the donated food at the end of the day.

Longtime St. Mary’s Food Pantry volunteers Bettyann Sheats and Lauren Moody pose in front of a bus that will be at Saturday’s food drive. The food drive buses will be at Shaw’s in Lewiston and Auburn from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 18. (Submitted photo)