NORWICH – Students in the Human Service Organization (HSO) of the SUNY Morrisville Norwich campus continued an annual pre Thanksgiving tradition over the weekend, collecting hundreds of pounds of food from Norwich residents to help stock the shelves of the Chenango County Roots and Wings food pantry.

On Friday, HSO – with helping hands of the Norwich chapter of the Lions Club and Leading Edge – took to the streets of Norwich to solicit food items from nearly every home in the city. Thanks to generous donations of plastic bags from several local businesses, students were able to tie bags to residents’ door handles and mail boxes, attached with a note explaining the mission of the food drive.

Residents were asked simply to fill the bags with non perishable food items and hang them back on their door to be collected by HSO members on Sunday.

While the food drive has always received a tremendous showing of support from the community, organizers say they believe to have had their best turnout ever this year. HSO advisor Fred Weaver, a professor of humanities and social science at SUNY Morrisville, said that’s a pretty big deal considering the more than 1,200 pounds of food collected a year ago.