BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — One grocery chain is making it easier to donate to a good cause in the check out line.

For a $5 donation, you buy a bag of food for a family in need, and then get $5 off your next purchase. At the local Grocery Outlets, the funds reportedly goes to the Salvation Army and the Mission at Kern County.

For the ninth year, more than 300 stores within the chain have participated in the Independence for Hunger campaign during July.

Over the past eight years, more than $5 million was raised. The extra food is helpful at Catholic Charities where the demand for food goes up by more than 30 percent during the hot summer months for a variety of reasons.

The bags are opened and repackaged into bigger bags that go to families.

The Independence for Hunger campaign runs through the end of July, and if you don't want to buy a bag you can donate a dollar.

ABC30 contributed to this story.