SWAMPSCOTT — River, 9, and Riley Weinand, 11, took it upon themselves to shovel driveways and walkways around their neighborhood when it snowed Sunday. They raised $495, which they plan to donate to Anchor Food Pantry.

“I like helping out charities and people that couldn’t shovel their driveway,” River said. “My favorite part was making people happy by helping shovel out their driveways.”

Riley said getting a lot of money to help out charity was his favorite part. He added that people were very nice when they knew they were donating to the pantry.

Their father Nick Weinand explained how the idea came about.

“It actually started because River wanted to raise some money to do some Christmas shopping for us, which I thought was really cute,” he said. “We told him, ‘Don’t worry about buying us presents, but if you want to do something nice, you can raise money for Anchor Food Pantry.’”

He said the family loves Anchor Food Pantry and that it’s an organization that’s done a lot for the community.

Nick Weinand added that River jumped at the chance to help out and spent eight hours helping out 12 houses throughout his neighborhood. Soon after, Riley joined him.

He said that his post on Facebook about the initiative helped grow exposure to their efforts. Soon after word began to spread, people would find them shoveling and make donations to help them along.

“I think people were being very generous… It was always to raise money for Anchor Food Pantry, and people really seem to like that organization around here,” Weinand said. “They would come back inside our house every two hours with a pocket full of cash, and say, ‘Dad, look at this!’”

He continued, “We try to instill in them the importance of taking care of others. In the past, they’ve done a hot chocolate stand to raise money for Anchor Food Pantry… It’s just something that we like to do.”