Scouting for Food expected to total 190,000 pounds

By Tim Forsberg
Posted 11/10/15

Boy Scouts across the state did their daily good deed and more this past weekend as they participated in the 28th annual Scouting for Food drive benefiting the Rhode Island Community Food …

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Scouting for Food expected to total 190,000 pounds

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Boy Scouts across the state did their daily good deed and more this past weekend as they participated in the 28th annual Scouting for Food drive benefiting the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. 

The drive began on Saturday, October 28, when the scouts canvassed neighborhoods dropping off informational door hangers to neighbors’ homes seeking donations of nutritional, non-perishable canned and boxed goods. The flyer informed potential donors that the scouts would return the following Saturday, starting at 9 a.m., to collect the items should homeowners want to leave them outside.  

These flyers represented a change for the scouts, as previously they had provided plastic bags with instructions to be used by donors for donations. The scouts believe the new method is easier on the environment, allowing donors to recycle their own plastic bags and prevent dropped off bags from blowing away.

And based on preliminary returns it worked well.

 “It looks like it was a great day, we still don’t have all of our totals as some of our sites are still bringing items in,” said Hugh Minor, Director of Communications at the Community Food Bank. “But we’re estimating they collected about 190,000 pounds of food, which was more than last year. At our building here on Saturday, we received more food than the total amount collected by the drive last year, which was 138,000 pounds raised.”  

Scouts may use the volunteer time spent during the drive as part of the requirements towards achieving their next rank.  

Items collected by the scouts were brought to local drop off centers, then sorted for quality and packaged for delivery by the Rhode Island National Guard to the food bank. The food will be distributed to 170 different agencies throughout the state, including food pantries, churches and community agencies.

 “We’re pretty excited, the scouts went above and beyond and had a great response from people,” said Minor. “It’s the 28th year that they’ve done this, and we’re so appreciative that these Boy Scout volunteers go out and do this for us. We rely on them and we rely on the Rhode Island National Guard to support them.”

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