The Mid-Prairie-based organization Feed the Kids is expanding their services this fall, but it wouldn’t be possible without the help of the community.

Feed the Kids is having their annual dinner and auction this Saturday at the Parkside Activity Center in Wellman. Feed the Kids board member and Mid-Prairie West Elementary School Counselor Leanne Bender explains the proceeds, “It will be going toward the Operation Backpack programs at the Mid-Prairie Elementary Schools, toward the purchase of granola and cereal bars for the nurses offices at each of the schools in our district. It will be used to pay for food to stock the school food pantries in our district. It will be utilized to provide summer food bags that the kids can pick up at the local libraries during the summer months when they’re not receiving Operation Backpack. And it will be used to pay for the summer lunch participants in Wellman on Tuesday and Thursday.”

The school district does not pay for any of the Feed the Kids programs, which includes new food pantries in the Mid-Prairie East Elementary and high school this fall. Bender says the group hopes to raise a minimum of $18,000 at the dinner. Bender says, “I’ll never forget the first student who came up to me and said, ‘Did you put that bag of food in my backpack?’ And regularly on Fridays we’ll make sure that I’ve done that because food is so limited in his home that he looks forward to those Friday food bags as sustainability for the weekend.”

The Mid-Prairie Feed the Kids dinner is free will, but tickets must be reserved ahead of time by visiting their Facebook page. Doors open Saturday at 4 p.m. with live music and a silent auction, followed by the dinner and a live auction.