We want to say thank you to everyone who participated in the Oct. 3 Stock Up Our Local Food Pantries Day. We thank those who donated food, picked it up, delivered it to the Sterling Township garage, sorted it and spent time on all the preparation that it took.

Thank you to Dixon, Newman, Rock Falls and Sterling high school students. Mike Papoccia and his team, as they have done for the last several years, did an awesome job of coordinating the food drive.

As usual, the food drive came at just the time when our pantry and other area pantries were in desperate need of being restocked. This year, the number of families in need of groceries has greatly increased. It would not be possible without the generosity of the people of our communities to reach so many families in need.