A group of youth with Scouts Canada took strides towards ending hunger in Ottawa on Saturday.

About 30 members and leaders with Ihsan Scouts in Ottawa gathered at Loblaws in Gloucester. There they filled a canoe with about $6,000 worth of food and home items to donate to those in need.

“I didn’t expect this amount of people to think that it is very important to help other people out because it is and not everyone is as fortunate as everybody else,” said 12-year-old Scout Malak.

The kids filled their canoe with non-perishable food items they collected and rolled it several blocks to the Ottawa food bank. The initiative was part of Good Turn Week, where Scouts call on community members to do one act of kindness.

 “In Scouts we like to give back anyway we can and social responsibility is a huge part of it, so as you can see here, all the kids are really excited to do what they do best and that’s give back to the community,” said Emily Jamieson, the director of communications with Scouts Canada.

Organizers said all of the household items collected would go towards helping Syrian refugees moving to the city to start their new lives.

“Helping people through these difficult times that they are going through, that’s what we are trying to teach the kids,” said Yacoub Abulhawa, the Ihsan Scouts leader.

Scouts Canada said initiatives were taking place across the country, including Toronto and Halifax where groups filled their own canoes.

“That makes me happy that Canadians care about others and they want to donate to the poor around Canada,” said 11-year-old Scout Batool.

Good Turn Week runs until May 1st.