By Sean Sullivan

In a bipartisan, joint venture, the Natick Democratic Town Committee is working with its Republican counterpart to collect food for a local cause.

Representatives from both organizations have reached across the aisle, and will do across the donation table, to benefit the Natick Service Council. The food drive, which is slated for Saturday, April 29, at Natick’s Stop & Shop supermarket, will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“They basically started the ball rolling on this,” said Patti Sciarra about the NDTC. She chairs the Natick Republican Town Committee.

“We sort of split up the outreach,” added Sciarra, whose organization produced a flyer for the event. The Dems, for their part, wrote up a press release to advertise the drive.

Craig Bystrynski sits to the left of Sciarra on the ideological spectrum; he is chair of the Natick Democratic Town Committee. The two organizations held an in-house food drive during recent years, he said, but aimed with this month’s event to garner more goods for their cause.

“We thought we would organize something significant and public,” said Bystrynski. “We wanted to do something that would have more of an impact this year. I hate the fact that we have this need in our community or any community.”

The two seemingly strange board-fellows have sat together over the course of town meetings, a working relationship that set the stage for collaborating on their food drive.

“We’re not looking at it from a political point of view,” said Sciarra, who noted that the town’s elections are non-partisan. “We’re looking at it from a community point of view.”

The Natick Service Council has been a cornerstone of community aid over the years. The NSC collects and directs donations of vital items and volunteer time to those in need. The assistance can come in the form of food, clothing, career coaching, financial aid, and other resources.

“The NSC is a great organization,” said Sciarra. “They do a lot of good work.”