Students from a pair of Bergen County schools are helping to make the Thanksgiving holiday special for hundreds of families in need in Essex County.

For the ninth year, Project N.E.S.T. was in Newark distributing complete Thanksgiving meals. N.E.S.T. stands for “No Empty Stomachs Today.”

Middle schools in Woodcliff Lake and Harrington Park coordinated with the staff of the Apostles House of Newark to hold food drives at local supermarkets to collect the items.

“We put them all in these orange bags…and we’re giving a bag and either a turkey or a ham,” says Woodcliff Middle School student Zach Kreindel.

Apostles House treasurer Jamie Schwartz says that they will feed about 700 families made up of almost 3,000 people this year.

Carteret-based Porky Products is one of the largest donors to the program, donating over 300 holiday hams and 800 boxes of stuffing each year. The company also helps to deliver the food from Bergen County to Essex County.