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ESCANABA -- The TV6 Canathon may have kicked off a couple of weeks ago, but in Delta County, their biggest collection started Monday.

Local radio stations WYKX and WDBC began collecting donations right outside grocery shops, a five-year tradition that has brought the Delta Canathon lots of success.

Each year, Delta County food pantries rely on Canathon donations to stock their shelves.

"The numbers do go down, and we really do depend upon our community," said Jenny Schwark, a Salvation Army of Escanaba intern.

But in a tight economy, donations go quickly, and you'd think the community wouldn't be able to help, but according to WYKX, they somehow do.

"It blows my mind that even in a bad economy, the people of Delta County always seem to come together and really do a great job of helping out," said WYKX DJ, Bo Reynolds.

WYKX has set up donation stations outside Escanaba's Elmer's County Market and Super One and Gladstone's Super Value.  They'll go live from those locations for three days to draw attention to the cause.

"This is a great opportunity for people to get involved and help out their neighbors because the people that are in need are their neighbors," Reynolds said.  "They're people in this community, they're people that we know."

After only one day of participating in the Canathon, the Escanaba Salvation Army already loaded hundreds of pounds of food right into their trucks.

WYKX and WDBC say the community still donates in difficult times because they have a strong sense of community.

"Anything that's donated goes directly to St. Vincent Depaul and the Salvation Army right here in Delta County, and I think that's part of the reason why we've had so much success," Reynolds said.

WYKX and their sister station, WDBC, will be outside grocery stores collecting non-perishable foods from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. through Wednesday.  If you don't have any food to bring, they're accepting cash donations as well.