When you go shopping this weekend, make sure to buy a few extra cans.

The Youth Public Safety Academy students are holding a canned food drive, called “Just a Can Away,” Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon at the Wal-Mart on North Main Street and the Food Lion on Holland Road. All food will be donated to the Disabled American Veterans Suffolk office.

Shoppers at the stores are encouraged to purchase a can or two of extra food in the store and drop it off on their way out. The young people have set a goal of 300 cans.

The project is part of the service-learning curriculum at the Youth Public Safety Academy, which is a multi-week program exposing at-risk youth to what it is like to be a police officer or a firefighter.

The young people also have identified other concerns in the community such as recycling, hunger and graffiti removal, and they plan to do another service project before the spring session is over.

For more information on the program or the food drive, call 514-4106.