(Photo by Zachary Meseck)

NORWICH – According to Helping Hands representatives, nearly 200 people attended Thursday’s donation night, with a line of people in need wrapping around the Norwich YMCA towards the Howard Johnson building.

The event was an hour long, with volunteers providing free goods including fresh food, hygiene items, and clothing in the Norwich YMCA Community Room.

Helping Hands is an organization dedicated towards relieving hunger, improving the health and quality of life towards people in need. 30 volunteers attended Norwich’s Helping Hands on Thursday night, and provided goods such as toothbrushes, soap, socks, yogurt, and soup to anyone who said they were in need.

According to Norwich Helping Hands Director Lori Race, the need was so great Thursday night that volunteers ran out of food during the event, but thanks to the dedicated efforts of specific volunteers, more food was able to be donated.

Race said the goal of the night was to help people and it was a success. She added that it was an emotional night for volunteers, as a line of people numbering nearly 200 started to form outside in the cold, hours before the event began.