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The Harvard Undergraduate Food Security Initiative led a citywide baby food drive over the past two weeks, collecting essential supplies to share with a local homeless shelter for women and children.

The drive, which ran from Oct. 20 to Oct. 31, gathered diapers, baby wipes, formula, and other goods, which were collected on Sunday. The group intends to deliver them to the Nazareth Residence for Mothers in Roxbury.

Gabriella B. Hernandez ’28, a HUFSI member who helped coordinate with local organizations, said she was encouraged by the proceeds of the drive after having collected donations from the Broadway Marketplace dropoff.

“It was probably more successful than I anticipated, which is really great to see. It also speaks to the Cambridge and Somerville community at large,” Hernandez said.

Sarah Rose F. Odutola ’27, who runs HUFSI’s food pantry committee and organized the food drive, said she wanted to begin the drive after recognizing the difficulty many families face in obtaining formula and baby food. According to Odutola, strict federal regulations make it challenging for food pantries to offer baby food.

While planning the effort, Odutola decided to expand the drive into greater Cambridge to garner donations. Instead of focusing on students, the Baby Food Drive placed boxes around Cambridge, so residents who may have already had excess baby products could share them as well.

HUFSI contacted a number of churches, gyms, and schools in the area, landing on four locations — the Cambridge YMCA, First Church Cambridge, Broadway Marketplace, and Wildflower Montessori School — where they placed boxes for collections.

“We really wanted them to be out in the community and it was a good opportunity for us to connect and engage with the community in Cambridge,” Odutola said. “Often I find that people here are actually really, really generous and really, really excited to help people out.

As of November, approximately 1.1 million Mass. residents are at risk of losing their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits as a result of an ongoing federal government shutdown and recent changes in SNAP eligibility requirements.

SNAP changes could affect more than 6,500 Cambridge residents, who benefit from SNAP programs. Since the cuts, at least one food pantry in Cambridge has reported a significant increase in visitors over the last week.

Hernandez said she believes the Baby Food Drive could matter even more to families now as they face a loss of government assistance.

“With SNAP being rolled back, I think it’s a critical time — more than ever — to be getting people food assistance. For families with kids, this will obviously help the children, but also allow the parents and the family to have more of a budget for their own meals,” Hernandez said.

HUFSI, a student organization founded last spring, engages in projects with a mission to advocate for “food and nutrition security for the Harvard community and beyond,” according to their website. The group held their first food drive last semester, which collected goods and toiletries for the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s food pantry.

HUFSI student director Gowri Rangu ’26 said the Baby Food Drive represents an important step for the young organization in effectively taking on projects that help Boston-area residents. She complimented Odutola’s work in putting together the initiative and voiced hope for the organization’s future projects.

“I don’t think I’ve seen a baby food drive at Harvard, or just in general,” Rangu said. “The fact that she’s able to bring it into fruition this semester, I think, is pretty incredible.”