GREENFIELD — The annual Supper for Six food drive brought together families, friends and coworkers from across Franklin and Hampshire counties last week to support community members facing food insecurity during the February school break.

The United Way of the Franklin & Hampshire Region’s affinity group, Women’s Way, hosted the 21st iteration of the food drive at the organization’s Greenfield offices. Donors arrived in a drive-thru fashion, with vehicles loaded with bags of nonperishable foods, and were met by volunteers ready to offload the contents into the office.

Many students’ families rely on public schools for food and face financial uncertainty during school breaks. Women’s Way looks to alleviate financial pressures for these families by providing free groceries. The organization collected the bags of food before giving them to community partner groups Big Brothers Big Sisters of Western Massachusetts, Community Action Pioneer Valley’s Center for Self-Reliance, the Franklin County Community Meals Program, the Mary Lyon Foundation and The United Arc for distribution to children and families in need. According to Jenny Coeur, the United Way’s program manager, this year’s drive collected 268 bags of food and more than $3,000 in monetary donations.

“Right now, food is an issue in the community,” said Terry Desautels, chair of Women’s Way. “As long as the need is still there, we’re going to keep this program going.”

The event relies almost entirely on donations from community members and organizations. Many donors have been participating year after year, as is the case for Turners Falls resident Maeve Shaughnessy, who has been participating for 10 years.

“It’s just such a wonderful program,” Shaughnessy said. “We are able to donate and give back to the community through this safety net we offer.”

Janice Ward, of Pittsfield, and Ian Vukovich, of Northampton, have been part of the donation team at Greenfield Savings Bank for three years. They said they look forward to the Supper for Six food drive as it inspires friendly competition with colleagues.

“We have a contest with our team to inspire some additional donations,” Ward said.

Another leading donor group are the students, parents and faculty members at The Bement School in Deerfield. Every year, the school provides bags to students who bring them back filled with nonperishable foods.

Heather Holohan-Guarnieri, the mother of a Bement School student, found out about the Supper for Six food drive through the school’s parent association and decided to get involved.

“I heard Bement was doing a big donation,” Holohan-Guarnieri said. “All grades were invited to participate.”

The Supper for Six food drive transitioned to a drive-thru format as opposed to a walk-in event during the COVID-19 pandemic. After hosting its Blooming Backpacks event at a walk-in venue last year, Desautels hopes the food drive will also return to that format by next year.

Women’s Way is always looking for volunteers to help run events like Supper for Six, Desautels added.

“People should know that the Women’s Way is doing this,” Desautels said. “If you have the opportunity to donate or spread the word about it, we would be very happy.”

More information on Women’s Way events can be found at uw-fh.org/womensway.