MARIETTA - What started as a joke between friends has grown into a 500-person dance-off against hunger.

Nearly 500 people are expected to participate in a "flash mob" Saturday night between 6 and 6:30 p.m., dancing to Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" in Glover Park on the Marietta Square.

Before dancing, participants will be dropping food in barrels that will be placed throughout the Square. All donations will be given to MUST Ministries in Marietta, Smyrna and Canton.

"The idea popped into my head a few months ago," longtime Marietta resident Nikki Clotfelter said. "Some friends were at our house and just jokingly I said, 'Hey, let's do a flash mob!"

She posted information on her Facebook page saying that she wanted to have a flash mob, in which a large group assembles in a public place, performs or dances for a brief time and then disperse. After more than 100 people responded, Clotfelter decided that they should perform the flash mob for a cause.

"We really needed to think of a good charity that we could bring in with this," she said. "(My husband Blaine and I) got a link to MUST Ministries and how they needed food and that their food bank was bare."

She immediately contacted MUST Ministries and decided that part of the flash mob would be participants donating food.

Clotfelter chose to choreograph and perform the flash mob to "We're Not Gonna Take It," because she said, "We're Not Gonna Take Hunger" anymore.

"The flash mob is dedicated to doing something that will highlight the need for food and the need for people to get involved," MUST Ministries' Kaye Cagle said. "If it helps feed people, we're all for it."

Cagle said that they have seen a tremendous response from residents who want to help since informing local communities in late June that the food banks were extremely low.

Cagle said they need canned meats, breakfast items, powdered milk, spaghetti sauce and pasta, canned meals, boxed meals, peanut butter and jelly.

Nearly 100 people attended a rehearsal Saturday at First Presbyterian Church in Marietta. Clotfelter expects up to 500 to participate this weekend.

"There were people coming in that I did not know, and we've lived in Marietta for a long time," she said. "It's amazing how ... this has spread."

"A flash mob is supposed to be a complete surprise element, but because so many people have found out about it, it isn't going to be a surprise," Clotfelter said. "But that's okay, because it's for a great cause."

Clotfelter said they are expecting participants from all over, including her sister who is coming down from New York, a group that will be traveling from Tennessee, and someone from Austria who practiced last weekend with her at the rehearsal.

"We just ask that people bring food if they participate," she said.

MUST Ministries serves approximately 32,000 clients a year at their three locations. They serve a ton of food each day, 45 percent of which to children.

Anyone is welcome to participate in the flash mob; the dance steps are available online at www.youtube.com/user/mustministries.

For more information, visit MUST Ministries' online at www.mustministries.org or http://www.facebook.com/mustministries.