Two Recognized Student Organizations will team up to put together Thanksgiving food baskets for area families with need.

Anyone interested in volunteering can go to the Newman Catholic Center at 5 p.m. today.

Holly Walters, campus minister and coordinator of the Newman Center’s Student Volunteer Center, said students involved with the Newman Center and Christian Campus House have been collecting items to go in the baskets for the past couple of weeks.

Today, volunteers will form an assembly line to put the items together in bags and then form groups to go and deliver the baskets to families, Walters said.

“The purpose is to make sure families in the Charleston area have food for a decent Thanksgiving dinner,” she said.

She said unfortunately, many people don’t have the means to purchase items needed for a Thanksgiving dinner, and the food basket program allows 25 more families in the area to celebrate with a holiday meal.

Ann Clatfelter, a senior English major who helped to coordinate the event, said the items in the baskets include a turkey, green beans, corn, stuffing mix, potatoes, gravy packets, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, whipped cream, milk, napkins, a turkey pan and a roasting bag.

Clatfelter said names of families came from the Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Homeless Shelter and the Embarras River Basin Agency.

Walters said a couple of weeks ago, letters were sent to the families to let them know they would receive a basket and asked them to be home to accept it.

She said the program has been going on for around 12 years and up until recently was organized solely by the Newman Center.

“The last couple of years, the Christian Campus House has really stepped forward in helping to organize it, collecting donations and providing volunteers,” she said.

Walters said close to $400 has altready been collected.