Scouts sort the food and pack it into cardboard boxes for transport to the Food Bank during the 22nd annual drive.

The Providence Journal / Kathy Borchers

CRANSTON — Yesterday’s food drive by the Rhode Island Community Food Bank and the Boy Scouts matched or exceeded last year’s effort, leaving the organizers “ecstatic,” one of them said.

“It’s absolutely wonderful,” said Michael Cerio, the food bank’s communications manager. He said the organizers met their goal, equaling last year’s drive.

Cerio said that, with a few trucks still out picking up food at collection sites, “It looks like we’re already over 203,000 pounds” of donations at the food bank. He said that more food was collected, and that some of it was staying with agencies in the communities where it was collected.

Yesterday was the groups’ 22nd annual food drive to help struggling families. Cerio said the groups were collecting donations at about 50 collection sites across the state. The organizers called the need for food “a stark reality of harsh economic times like these.”

As the state’s unemployment rate has risen, the food bank has been under increasing pressure as families, many of whom have never asked for support before, are seeking food assistance.