Collect your canned goods and maybe add a few more to your shopping cart this week.

The AARP Virginia and Ruritan are holding a statewide community food drive on Saturday to help restock Virginia’s bare food pantries.

“As a community, we want to help feed the hungry, one can at a time,” said Carol Warren, a Holland Ruritan Club member who is helping organize the club’s drive.

The food drive will be held at Holland Baptist Church’s fellowship hall from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Additional locations in Suffolk include Farm Fresh at 3675 Shoulder Hill Bridge Road, which begins at 6 a.m.; Cypress Ruritan Club at 1890 Cypress Chapel Road, which runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Farm Fresh at 1401 N. Main Street, which runs from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

As more families struggle to make ends meet, Virginia’s food banks need help feeding hungry people. Virginia food banks and their partner agencies are experiencing daily increases in demand for assistance due to rising unemployment, higher food prices and a slow economy, according to an AARP press release.

To help, fill a bag with non-perishable food that your local food bank needs most. Those items include peanut butter, chunky soups, canned meats, canned tuna, canned vegetables, crackers, hot and cold cereal, pasta, rice and canned fruit. Avoid glass containers, though.

“Each organization is delivering their supply to their own local food bank,” Warren explained. “Last year, we raised more than 400 pounds of food to take to the Franklin Cooperative Ministry’s foodbank.”

AmeriCorps and the Virginia Federation of Food Banks also are assisting with the food drive effort this year.