Volunteers gather outside Kroger on Maple Road in Ann Arbor for the first day of the annual "Rockin' for the Hungry" food drive put on by Food Gatherers and local radio station 107one.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

Tim Stacey said deciding to donate to a charitable cause, such as Rockin' for the Hungry, is as simple as imagining yourself in another's shoes.

"It (isn't) right, to be hungry," said the Dexter man and owner of Stacey's Scrap Metal. "How would you like to be hungry?"

Stacey donated $200 to Rockin' for the Hungry at Kroger, 400 S. Maple Road, a few hours after it began this morning.

"I give every year because I'm pretty lucky, owning my own business. And you have to give to get," Stacey said after making the donation on behalf of himself and some family members pitched in.

The five-day food drive for Food Gatherers officially began at 7 a.m. and runs through Sunday afternoon. Ann Arbor's 107one is broadcasting live from a few Kroger locations, and as many as 150 volunteers will be manning the outdoor donation table at the Maple Road location in shifts throughout the event. Portable heaters, coats, hats and gloves helped keep volunteers warm in the cold, snowy weather this morning.

• View a schedule of 107one live broadcasts for Rockin' for the Hungry here.

Stacey's $200 donation became $300 thanks to the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, which is matching as much as 50 percent of monetary donations made during the drive, with a maximum grant award of $75,000.

All donations are tax-deductible and qualify for a state of Michigan tax credit.

By about 9:30 a.m., a number of food and cash donations had been collected by volunteers at the Maple Road Kroger.

Cyndy Pollard, a volunteer from Ann Arbor, puts a bag full of donated food into a shopping cart outside Kroger.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

"So far, so good," Martin Bandyke, the station's morning drive host, said of the food drive's first few hours.

Bandyke said he's hopeful Food Gatherers will meet its goal of collecting 200 tons of donated food by Sunday, even though "the goal is big, and times are tough."

"We work and live in this incredible community ... that takes an event like this to heart," he said. "It's always gone really well."

Event organizers didn't have an estimate of the amount of food or money donated within the drive's first few hours, but Food Gatherers President and CEO Eileen Spring said, "It's nothing compared to where we need to be."

"The event's been on for two hours and we have four more days. We're confident we will meet our goal)," Spring said.

Spring said Rockin' for the Hungry has been a tradition for more than 20 years and has been held at Meijer, Busch's Fresh Food Market and now Kroger.

Tracie Clarke of Ann Arbor learned of the food drive while grocery shopping at Kroger and decided to make a donation on her way out.

"Just, you know, $10 could feed a child for a month," Clarke said after making a cash donation. "I'm a mother, and I feel as though $10 isn't going to break the bank."

Sydney Tyler, a University of Michigan nursing junior, volunteered at the food drive with a few other students on behalf of nursing sorority Chi Eta Phi.

"We decided to pick Food Gatherers (as a volunteer opportunity). ... I had volunteered before and it was a really good program," Tyler said during a three-hour shift of helping greet potential donors and distributing fliers.

She added, "Everybody needs some food to eat."

More than 43,900 people receive emergency food annually through Food Gatherers' network of food pantries and meal sites, according to Food Gatherers.

Foods high in protein, canned and dry foods are especially needed. Some suggestions include tuna, soup, stew, chili, corned beef, roast beef hash, kidney, pinto, refried, black and green beans, rice noodles, peanut butter, baby formula, and nutritional supplement drinks such as Ensure or Boost.

Though the South Maple Road location will be the official site for the food drive, all Kroger locations in Washtenaw County will accept donations made at the register during the drive.

Stacey encouraged everyone who is able to donate to the food drive.

"If you've been fortunate, share," he said. "Because it will come back to you 10-fold. It always does. And it feels good."

• AnnArbor.com is tracking donations for Rockin' for the Hungry

Heather Lockwood is a reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at heatherlockwood@annarbor.com or follow her on Twitter.