A county wide food drive is looking for residents to help out the less fortunate this weekend by simply filling an empty grocery bag.

Project Feed a Neighbor is in its fifth year. Several hundred students and churches in the area got together last Saturday, where they assembled the grocery bags with pink fluorescent labels and distributed them all over Marquette County.

They are asking people to make food donations to the Salvation Army and St. Vincent DePaul pantries.

“We’re appealing to people to take that moment and be the generous community that we have been for as long as I’ve lived in Ishpeming and Negaunee. People always respond to the needs of their neighbors,” said Dick Derby, the project coordinator for Feed a Neighbor.

Especially with this year’s hard winter, many food pantries have had to help more people than in years past.

“This winter in particular, it’s been stressful on families that sit right on the edge of a good economic situation because of the long, cold winter, food or fuel has been a big question for a lot of families,” said Derby.

Project Feed a Neighbor is looking for donations of non–perishable food items or anything else that could help those people in need.

Last year, more than 6,000 pounds of food was collected and divided between the Salvation Army and St. Vincent DePaul stores.