LEWISTON — Fifth graders at Saint Dominic Academy spent the month of October collecting cans of food and other nonperishable items to give to those less fortunate.

Mrs. Dufour and Mr. Haskell’s fifth-grade classes organized a food drive to help the St. Mary’s Food Pantry on 208 Bates St., Lewiston.

Students from all grades donated items to help the cause and even brought a can or a box of food to the school’s Halloween Party on Oct. 26, remembering that there are many in need, even as they received treats at the party. The fifth graders kept a tally of the number of food objects that each class donated and reported the count on a daily basis. At the end of the month, students had donated 2,024 items.

On Nov. 6, the fifth graders loaded the items onto a bus and unloaded them again when they arrived at St. Mary’s Food Pantry.

Pantry manager Joyce Gagnon gave the students a tour of the facility and explained how the food would help so many families in need who come to the pantry for help to feed their families. Gagnon told them touching stories of people in need and said those people would be grateful for the generous donations provided by the Saint Dominic students.

St. Mary’s Food Pantry is open Monday, Thursday and Friday from 9 to 11 a.m. It is the largest emergency food pantry in New England and has been providing emergency food assistance to Androscoggin County residents for more than 20 years.

St. Mary’s relies solely on charitable donations. For information on donating or volunteering, contact Joyce Gagnon at (207) 513-3841 or email her at [email protected].