Diane Kilkeary sorted through cans of green beans, jars of peanut butter and boxes of graham crackers in the basement of Christ the Redeemer Roman Catholic Church in Sterling Monday morning.
"We have a lot of bags of groceries to sort through," she said, "and not a lot of time to do it."
LINK, a nonprofit organization, has been collecting nonperishable foods for several months for its Holiday Basket Program.
The program allows local families to walk through the basement’s isles of crackers, pastas and soups, and collect a week’s worth of groceries.
"It’s like a grocery store," she said.
LINK NEEDS volunteers to sort through hundreds of plastic grocery bags filled with food donations.
The church’s basement will be open Thursday, 8 a.m. to noon and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and all day Friday, beginning at 9 a.m.
"Anyone can come in and volunteer," Kilkeary said.
Christ the Redeemer will open its doors Saturday to those in need, to shop for food.
Volunteers are needed to help restock shelves and load food into cars. LINK also needs people to volunteer as Spanish interpreters.
Volunteers can call the LINK hotline 703-437-1776 for more information. When prompted, push three for the Holiday Basket Program. Then push seven to leave message about volunteering.