Groton — Sailors from the USS Miami collected more than 1,200 pounds of non-perishable food items and donated them to a food pantry in Maine Nov. 16.

It was the largest donation the Sanford food pantry has received this year. The submarine is being repaired after a fire at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and Sanford is the sub’s sponsor city.

“On the third day of the food drive we had to send over a load of food early because we had nowhere else to keep it. That first load was nearly 250 pounds,” said Master Chief Yeoman Tyrus R. Rock, chief of the boat.

Carol Cail, the co-treasury of the pantry, said the donation “means that a lot of people are going to have food, and hopefully it will carry us into the winter months.”