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WINNEBAGO - Cats, clowns, Robin Hood, a Wheaties box and an array of other costumed students bowled on Halloween to raise funds for starving children and have a spooky good time.

Melissa Anne, director of the Winnebago chapter of Kids Against Hunger, worked with Bob and Penney Van Note of Lucky Lanes to have young children and high schoolers bowl on Halloween to help raise money for the non-profit, and also to give Faribault County youth a safe activity.

Kids Against Hunger was started 30 years ago by Richard Proudfit, who lives in the Twin Cities, after he went on a medical mission trip to Honduras, where he saw many starving children. As an entrepreneur, he funded food scientists at several food companies to create a formula that would revive starving children.

In 1999, he decided to come up with a way to reach more children by allowing satellite stations.

"There are over 60 of us now," Anne said. "We had 31,000 meals in our first pack."

Anne realized that most of the students bowling Saturday weren't focused on the fund-raiser.

"They really came here for fun," she said.

Part of the Halloween festivities included a costume contest - first place went to Falko Garth, a foreign exchange student from Munich, Germany, who dressed up as a Wheaties box. First and second place got pizza gift certificates. A raffle drawing also gave away $5 'Bago Bucks certificates.

Marian Ziegler, with Lucky Lanes, was excited to see so many foreign exchange students bowling. Two students were from Germany the others were from Thailand, Taiwan, Slovakia and Italy.

Jonas Hamperl, from Germany, said they were having fun and doing pretty well at bowling.

Early Saturday afternoon, 24 children bowled for the event, while 26 junior and senior high schoolers came.

"It's really about having a safe place for them," Anne said. "... The other nice thing, we didn't know if we were gonna have decent weather for Halloween. If it was bad weather, kids could come in here and trick-or-treat."

Bob Van Note was pleased with the Halloween event, since it's the first one he's had at the bowling alley since he bought it in 2005.

"I like to see kids come in here, keep them off the streets and having fun," he said. "(Melissa Anne) does a great job. She's helped us very well and we do our best to support her."

Anne formed the Winnebago chapter last year. Previously, she had been involved in youth ministry and had brought groups up to the Twin Cities to help pack food.

Anne, who calls herself a farm girl, is excited about the food package because a portion of it is a soybean substance, which is a large part of the local farm economy. Also in the package is rice.

"Which is recognized everywhere in the world," Anne said. "You cook it for 20 minutes and it's safe to eat."

The package includes a vegetable blend, and a vitamin flavoring mixture.

"That literally brings children back from the brink of starvation," she said.

That one food package costs 23 cents to make. Halloween's bowling fund-raiser tallied $160 - which is worth 695 meals.

Next weekend, the Winnebago chapter will be packing about 15,000 meals at the Women's Expo in Blue Earth. Thrivent will provide matching funds. Anne hopes that at least half of those meals will go to local food shelves.

"There are kids in our neighborhoods who don't have enough to eat," she said. "The nutrition of it is incredible."

Anne hoped that the children who helped raise funds Saturday by bowling will help pack food at the Women's Expo.

"Then they'll get it. Then they'll know what you're talking about," she said.