11/5 Update:
Officials say the need has not tripled compared to last year, but it is large. They say about 1,000 families have asked for assistance this Thanksgiving season.
The food pantries and Shared Harvest still need help to cover more than 300 of the families.
If someone wants to buy the turkey and the fixings on their own they need to contact Butler County 211 to speak with a specific agency. If that number does not work, call (513)785-3095.
A $35 donation would cover a family's turkey and all the fixings.
To donate, people can write a check to the:
There's an alarming increase in the number of parents who are asking local agencies for help feeding their children.
A program that gets food to children for the weekends has tripled in size this year in Warren County's Mason School District.
The demand is also growing in Butler County.
Children at Mason's Early Childhood center are collecting food this week for Mason's backpack project. When a Mason mom started the program two years ago, bags of food went home with 25 children, now it's up to 90.
District Spokeswoman Tracy Carson said, "There are volunteers who come in their classroom and discretely put those bags into their backpacks so no one ever knows who's getting food and who's not."
The children who get the bags in their backpacks would otherwise go home to an empty pantry.
Blake Brewer, a kindergartner, said, "I like bringing food to other kids."
Tina Osso and her brother Chuck run the same kind of backpack program on a larger scale out of Shared Harvest Food Bank in Fairfield. It started four years ago serving five school districts. Now they're up to 11 districts and Butler County Head Start.
In October alone, Shared Harvest will distribute 1,00 more bags than October of last year.
"The economy is obviously having a drastic effect on families being able to provide for their kids, the other is the program is getting to be better known," said Tina Osso, Shared Harvest Executive Director.
"So, hopefully it enables children to learn, read better to increase their academic level in schools just because they have something to eat on a weekend," said Chuck Osso.
Mason school leaders want the children to learn about the importance of giving at an early age. That's why they are collecting the food this week.
The children are absorbing the lesson. "I think that's great because I get to help the earth. I get to help the people," said Mariah Norman, a first grader.
