A food drop at Waterville Junior/Senior High School Tuesday afternoon helped hundreds in the community.

"Because Waterville Central School is one of our Connected Community Schools, we're here to do a food drop for probably 400 families,” said Rome Alliance for Education Executive Director Melissa Roys.

The Brothertown Connected Community Schools Response Team and other volunteers had 15,000 pounds of food to give out.

"We have milk, we have three or four meats, we have cheese, definitely have produce, fresh apples, stew, there's quite a bit of food,” Roys said.

The help was available for the entire community, not just for those with students in the school district.

"This means everything. Not only can we reach our school community, but we're also reaching our elderly population, and we're reaching the folks out in our community that may not have the means right now to either transport themselves, or they're not well enough to go out,” says Tracy Leone, Business Administrator for the Waterville Central School District.

There was also coordinated transportation for those who couldn’t make it to the event.

"Earlier today, we distributed just over a hundred meals that were transported out to those families’ homes,” said Leone.

And during this difficult time, neighbors were grateful for the support, "There's definitely been a few tears, some laughs, but people are really appreciating it. I think especially, particularly in this area, it's difficult to get to food resources as it is,” Roys said.

Volunteers wore gloves and took other precautions, including placing bags into cars, in an effort to protect against coronavirus.