On Saturday, Oct. 31, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., the Brainard Lodge of Masons #102 will be holding its third food drive this year to benefit the East Lyme Food Pantry. The Lodge is located across from Lillie B. Haynes School on Society Road.

Donations will be collected via drive-thru, and children in costume will receive a treat.

“This has been a very difficult time for many of our neighbors, and we hope that this service we offer helps folks feel more comfortable about where their next meal is coming from,” the organization said in a release. “The community has been so generous up to this point, and with the holidays approaching we are especially in need of stuffing mix, cranberry sauce, canned sweet potatoes, grocery store gift cards and monetary donations” (made out to SSKP-EL Pantry).

Donations are accepted on Thursday mornings from 10:30 to noon at the back parking lot of St. John Episcopal Church in Niantic.

The East Lyme Food Pantry, a part of Shoreline Soup Kitchens and Pantries, has been giving out food in East Lyme since 2009. When the coronavirus pandemic shut everything down in March, the pantry continued to give out food in a drive-thru format.

Pre-pandemic, the number of families in need ranged from 80-100 every week. By the end of summer, the need decreased to 120-130 families, but numbers have been increasing the past few weeks.

Food is distributed to every family who comes to the pantry, no matter what town they live in. The pantry gives out three meals a day for three days worth of food to every family every Thursday afternoon.

Beginning Nov. 5, pantry hours will be 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. every Thursday, though there will not be food given out on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

About 40 volunteers help bag and distribute items such as canned fruits and vegetables, rice, pasta, sauce, fresh fruit and vegetables, canned meals, meat, cheese, eggs, milk, juice and bread.

For more information, call Sherrie Weiss, the pantry director, at (203) 300-6712.