It's that time of year again. 

Members of the Helping Hands Society of Cochrane will be making their rounds this weekend collecting food donations as part of the North Cochrane food drive. 

Food Security Programs Manager April Baird said they're asking residents to make sure their non-perishables are out and ready-to-go to make it easy for volunteers. 

"Already have those donations out in some fashion. Whether it's in a reusable bag, in an old plastic bag, in a recyclable box, whatever your donation is in, we'll pick it up. Otherwise they will probably door knock, whether you want that to happen at 10 a.m. on a Saturday or not." 

However, Baird said door knocking increases the donation intake by 40 per cent. 

"Five times out of 10 they've already got their donation ready, they just forgot to put it out by 10 a.m. The other half of the time, they just go and grab a few items from their pantry and make a donation." 

They need 150 volunteers to make the food drive possible, but Baird said it's not a huge time commitment. 

"A lot of people think that a food drive will take all day. Because we do four food drives per year, and we do small sections so we have it dialed down to two or three hours maximum." 

The North food drive goes on Saturday, Sept. 23.

Volunteers are set to hit Cochrane Heights, Sunterra, Sunset Ridge, Monterra and Cochrane Lake, starting at 10 a.m.

Those wishing to help out can find more information HERE. 

Food donations will help stock the Cochrane Food Bank. 

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