The most needed items at the Ottawa Food Bank during the CTV Morning Live Holiday Helpers Food Drive

Ottawa residents are being asked to help fill the shelves of the Ottawa Food Bank during the annual CTV Morning Live Holiday Helpers Food Drive.

"The need is so high right now, so the support of the Holiday Food Drive is just incredibly important to us," Rachael Wilson, CEO of the Ottawa Food Bank, told CTV Morning Live this week.

CTV Morning Live will host the Holiday Helpers Food Drive on Friday, collecting food and cash donations to support the Ottawa Food Bank. You can drop off donations at 87 George Street between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m.

The Ottawa Food Bank shared a list of the most needed items heading into the holiday season. The items include:

• Canned salmon and tuna
• Dried legumes
• Nut butter
• Canned veggies
• Canned fruit
• Diapers
• Pasta

"A lot of these items are things that can be turned into a meal. We've got canned vegetables, we've got pasta, brown rice, lentils. We've also got some canned meats and peanut butter is always still very popular," Wilson says.

"Many of these items, though, you'll note are of high nutritional quality. Really focusing on low sodium, high fibre, things like that."

The Ottawa Food Bank says cash donations help purchase needed items through the year.

"Those funds help us purchase the fresh items that are so important; things like milk, eggs, meat, produce," Wilson said. "We buy about $10 million worth of food every year and half of those will be those fresh items."

The CTV Morning Live Holiday Helpers Food Drive runs from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. Friday at our studios at 87 George Street.

You can make a monetary donation online.