Pirate Packs Food To Go is a new organization  in the Moraine/West Carrollton area. It’s not yet officially a registered  nonprofit.

Since February, the group has provided food for the weekends to about 40 children in danger of going hungry through the afterschool program run by the City of Moraine at Frank Nicholas Elementary School.

“Each day, there are many students in the West Carrollton school district who receive a free breakfast /lunch,” explains the group’s Libby Webster. “These same students may have very little or nothing to eat on the weekend.”

The goal of the Pirate Packs program is to help support the nutritional needs of those students. Webster says individuals, churches and businesses have been collecting and donating the food that’s sent home.

“We know there are many more children in our community at risk of going hungry over the weekend,” she says. “We are looking forward to expanding our program to increase the number of families and children we serve and hope to collaborate with the West Carrollton City Schools so we can have access to more families and children at risk of being hungry.”

During the school year, she says, the students in the West Carrollton High School’s Special Needs Work Study program came to the PP warehouse once a week to provide inventory management. “They sort, organize, put away, and count the new food items donated and also pack the bags containing enough food to feed one child for the weekend,” she says.

Here’s what they can use:

• single-serve pop top microwavable Chef Boyardee entrees
• single-serve pop top containers of vegetables and fruit
• single-serve Easy Mac
• cans of tuna or chicken (pop top if possible)
• single-serve cans of Beenie Weenies
• individual small box/cup of cereal
• 16 oz. jars of peanut butter
• individual juices
• cereal, fruit bars and granola bars

Drop-off locations include Moraine Civic Center, 3050 Kreitzer Road ; Moraine Rec Center, 3800 Main St. ; West Carrollton Police Department Lobby, 300 E. Central Ave. .
For information about pick-up or drop-off, call (937) 478-0253. The organization is made up of a committee of local citizens and is not part of the West Carrollton School District or the City of Moraine.