For the past 20 years, Ronnie Whisman has got an early start on Thanksgiving Day, not to make his own dinner but to deliver supplies to others.

Whisman says, "Well I got interested in it when I first saw them doing it. I asked them if they needed help getting around. They didn't know where all the streets were."

Each year, high school students from Staunton, Waynesboro and Augusta County raise money to feed those in need during Thanksgiving.

Whisman says, "I'd say we are probably feeding about 500 people. From the start, it was like we'd have 50, 75 then 100 and it just kept going, kept going."

Megan Dietz, a Fort Defiance graduate, returned this Thanksgiving to help her former classmates.

She says, "I think it just gives me a better appreciation for what I have and what people in my community don't have."

Families like the Chittums help to remind the volunteers why they are out on Thanksgiving.

Carmen Chittum, mother of the family, says, "It saves on your grocery bills when they deliver for Thanksgiving and sometimes on Christmas they'll help you get the exact same thing."

She says she is grateful for a happy and healthy family, which is something she believes wouldn't have happened this year without the volunteers.

Chittum says, "They couldn't do no better for us and I'm sure there are many more families that are going to get this just like we have."

Even if families are not home to claim the food, it is not wasted. Left over Thanksgiving supplies are given to families who may not have originally been on the list.

Anyone who is interested in receiving food for next Thanksgiving should contact the Staunton or Waynesboro branches of the Salvation Army.