ORANGE PARK – Pinto beans and rice, macaroni and cheese and Oatmeal.

It’s what can be on the menu for the more than 18,000 Clay County students who, otherwise, might not eat each weekend.

After a growth spurt last year, Jacksonville-based meal distribution nonprofit Hunger Fight is expanding its presence in Clay County to include weekend meals for the county’s students who eat free or reduced lunches.

The nonprofit’s growth has allowed it to increase its student meal backpack program in the county.

“We know that there’s a need, because the teachers and administrators and educators that we’re working with are asking for more,” said Bryan Butterstein, who does community development for Hunger Fight in Clay County.

Previously, he said, the organization donated meals mostly to local food pantries in Clay County. The organization services 16 counties in Northeast Florida, and until recently lacked the staff to orchestrate larger programs in smaller counties.

Hunger Fight grew 40 percent last year, according to Butterstein, a Clay County resident hired in August in large part to increase the charity’s activity within the county.

“We’re trying to take more of an active role in Clay County,” Butterstein said. “It’s just in the past it’s been manpower. We’re all doing nine different things and wearing many different hats.”

The nonprofit will hold its Third Annual Thanksgiving Food Packing Event Nov. 18 and 19 at Orange Park High. Last year’s event brought in members from 26 organizations and created 56,000 meals for area residents.

The nonprofit generally sells tables at its packing events to businesses and community organizations as a way for paying for the supplies.

Volunteers pack every meal, and Butterstein said one table typically produces 4,000 meals during a packaging session. Those 4,000 meals will then help feed 28 kids throughout the entire school year. The students will come from Title 1 schools throughout the county. To qualify as a Title 1 school, a school must have high percentages of children from low-income families.

Hunger Fight reports its November event in Orange Park has 40 businesses signed up so far –about half of what is needed to have a successful event.

Hunger Fight projects this year’s event will create 160,000 meals in two hours if the nonprofit receives the community support it needs. Hunger Fight organizes roughly 60 of these events a year, including its annual event at the Prime Osborn Convention Center in Jacksonville. That event attracts around 800 volunteers to pack the meals.

There are other smaller packing events in Clay County throughout the year – however, the Thanksgiving event is the largest.

Orange Park High has its own food pantry and clothing depot on campus born out of the need to help students focus on education rather than having to worry where their next meal is coming from. Administrators expanded the food pantry last year to include more items in a larger space due to the population of underserved students that attend the school.

“Every community has a need,” said Dean Porter, development director for Hunger Fight. “Every school, Title 1 or not, has Title 1 students, so even the charter and private schools have Title 1 students, just not as many.”

The nonprofit sources ingredients from nine distributors and creates the meals to both be nourishing and easy to make. Parents need only access to boiled water to make the meals.

The nonprofit has distributed more than 3.6 million meals since its creation in 2012.

Porter and his wife Sherri Porter – who serves as the nonprofit’s president and chief executive officer – created Hunger Fight to give back to the less fortunate after successful careers in marketing.