Interested in helping a local boy reach his birthday goal this weekend? If so, a community tuna drive benefiting the Marseilles Food Pantry will be held from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday, May 2, outside the pantry on Broadway St.

Maximilian Claahsen, who will turn 8 this year, began the tradition four years ago in honor of his birthday and continues it as a way to give back to the community while having fun stacking the donated cans.

His goal this year is to stack 1,200 cans before giving them to the pantry.

Before the annual effort, canned tuna was an item the pantry needed to purchase regularly.

Thanks to Claahsen and generous donations from locals, that hasn’t been the case over the past four years. Over the past two years, the drive collected more than 1,600 cans of tuna, helping stock the pantry for months.

The largest single donation last year came from Marseilles Mayor Jim Hollenbeck, who contributed 100 cans.

During the event last year, Maximilian’s mom and pantry operator Carolyn Claahsen said Max has been stacking tuna cans since he was 2 years old. They began the drive on his fourth birthday and each year he has asked to do it again.

“We do the tuna for the drive because it’s what [Max] has always stacked,” she said during an interview with Shaw Local News Network. “He used to even make houses and stuff.”

Community members are encouraged to drop off canned tuna, which Maximilian will collect outside the pantry’s front doors.

The pantry is open from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at 200 Broadway St. in Marseilles.

For more information, contact the Marseilles Food Pantry at 815-579-8922 or follow their Facebook page.