NEW IBERIA, La. (KLFY)- The giving continues in New Iberia. Local pantries are stacking boxes filled with food up to the ceiling of their trucks as people began dropping off items as early as 6 A.M.

“It’s such a worthy cause. We have a number of poor people. Disadvantaged people. People who are really down on their luck,” said Louis Gaignard from the Social Service Center.

New Iberia has been involved with Food for Families food drive since it began 31 years ago.

“It’s so great to support the needs of the people in our parish,” said John Indest the coordinator of New Iberia’s drive.

Six local pantries benefit from today’s drive such as the Social Service Center. The organizations says their work doesn’t end here. “As much food as we get, in two months it’s gone,” said Gaignard .

To keep their shelves full and services running, the food drive collects a list of canned goods and monetary donations.

“As food comes in, we load it into the bin. When it gets to 30 pounds we have a scale set up and we just send that bin off to each one of the pantries so, everyone gets an equal share,” said Indest.

From St. Francis Diner to the Solomon House, the list goes on of where the items are dispersed to. “That’s the reason for the season. Not everybody is as lucky as us so we like to give back,” said one donor.

“We hope to help anybody that needs food or that’s hungry, like even the cash.. anything that we can do to help out for the holidays,” said another donor.

Donations are handed down from one person to the next, all in effort to change a life. “To be able to provide goods, whether it’s monetary donations, or whether it is food to those people who are most in need.. that’s kind of Jesus’s work,’ Indest added.

Last year they collected nearly 13, 000 pounds of food. This year they hope to exceed that number.