Good Haul for Food Pantry

The East Hampton Food Pantry collected about 1,200 pounds of food and raised close to $1,300 in cash donations during Saturday’s annual Harvest Food Drive at the East Hampton Middle School.

The event’s coordinators said the nice weather was a boon and that the help of local girl scouts, who staffed a table at the nearby Stop and Shop and encouraged shoppers there to donate by handing out shopping lists of needed items, was also key.

“It was a really successful food drive, which we desperately needed as we’re going into the winter months. We appreciated the community turnout to help us out,” Vicki Littman, one of the organizers, said Monday.

According to Ms. Littman, the East Hampton Food Pantry goes from feeding 100 to 150 families per week in the summer to more than 300 during the winter months.

Donations of nonperishable foods, money, and food-related gift cards are still needed, Ms. Littman said. Those who want to contribute can visit the organization’s website, easthamptonfoodpantry.org, for more information, or take food items to the pantry’s location at the Hampton Country Day Camp, 191 Buckskill Road, on Tuesdays between 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m.