This weekend, West End Food Pantry will be accepting donations at the Country Harvest supermarket in Palmerton, aiming to pack up a trailer with as much food as possible.

“We are doing a ‘Stuff the Trailer event,’” pantry organizer Karena Thek said. “Our trailer is sitting out there, donated by Country Junction, and we’re going to try to fill it this weekend.”The goal of the event is to stock up the pantry for the coming fall and winter seasons, when the need for food traditionally increases.“We’re getting a lot green beans, corn, Stove-Top, things that people can use to prepare a Thanksgiving meal. I think this is very timely, because we’ll have stock of some of those items to help,” Thek said. “Of course, with the Christmas season, our numbers go sky-high, so it’s a hard time and we need a lot of food to feed that many people. So, this is a very important drive for us, to get stocked up for those coming festivities.”Shoppers are encouraged to donate a variety of non-perishable items, including rice, instant potatoes, and canned vegetables and fruit. If a customer donates five items, they receive a ticket for a prize drawing that will take place at 6 p.m. Sunday. Winners can choose between one $100 Country Harvest gift card, or two $50 cards.Monetary donations are accepted as well, and will be used to purchase food directly from Country Harvest through a special deal.“Honestly, we probably have about $250 in there right now,” Thek said as a customer put a five-dollar bill in the box.So far, West End Food Pantry has managed to fill up several shopping carts to load the trailer, and are eagerly anticipating even more.“We had a really good turnout all day,” Country Harvest assistant store manager Chad Kerschner said. “They’re taking buggy after buggy out of the store.”Volunteers from the pantry will be accepting donations at the store’s entrance from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.