Norwich — The 22nd annual TVCCA-Big Y food drive Thursday and Friday at the Norwich Big Y, 224 Salem Turnpike, will continue to seek donations to fill the Gemma E. Moran United Way/Labor Food Bank, but the two-day operation will look a lot different with COVID-19 prevention precautions.

The one thing that hasn’t changed, organizers said, is the need for food donations. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused widespread job loss, leaving families struggling financially at a time when collections of donations from supermarket shoppers has declined significantly, said Deborah Monahan, executive director of the Thames River Council for Community Action.

“It’s so, so important to have this food drive at this time,” Monahan said Wednesday. “First of all, because of the pandemic, and because it’s Thanksgiving season. We’ve got to get food to families.”

The annual food drive, co-sponsored by WCTY-97 FM, will change dramatically this year. The drive previously ran for 24 hours a day, accepting overnight donations, at a tent stationed in front of the Big Y entrance, with a festive atmosphere of live on-air interviews, music and concert ticket giveaways.

This year, the drive will run from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday, with the collection tent located in a small auxiliary parking lot to the right of the main shopping plaza entrance and near Route 82, rather than in front of the store entrance.

Collections will be done by drive-thru only. Donors will be asked to remain in their vehicles while TVCCA volunteers retrieve the donations. Monetary donations still can be made on site or online at www.tvcca.org. Shoppers can put bags of donated goods in their vehicle trunks or back seats.

“It’s really an ideal set-up,” said Megan Brown, TVCCA senior director of marketing and development. “It’s really set up perfectly for people to do a loop.”

WCTY still will broadcast live from the donation tent, but many of the usual live on-air interviews with TVCCA officials and event sponsors will be prerecorded, Brown said.

The most needed food items include pasta, soup and broth, brown and white rice, canned and dried beans, canned fish and meat, peanut butter, dry cereals and oatmeal, canned vegetables, tomato products, shelf-stable milk, jams and jellies, and 100% juice. All donations should be in undamaged and unexpired packages. No glass containers are accepted.

The food drive also is seeking frozen turkeys, which will be collected at the tent and carted back to the supermarket to be stored in the Big Y freezer.

“The good news is the weather’s going to be on our side,” Monahan said of the expected sunny, warm forecast food drive. “But the bad news is the weather is going to be on our side. We’ll have to get those turkeys into the freezer quickly.”

All food donations benefit the Gemma E. Moran United Way/Labor Food Bank, which distributes the collected foods to more than 80 food pantries, shelters, child care centers, community meal sites and programs for the elderly. All monetary donations support TVCCA’s Client Emergency Fund, which addresses critical client needs not covered through other funding sources.

Anyone with questions can contact Lamar Spruill at the United Way of Southeastern Connecticut at (860) 464-3315.

c.bessette@theday.com