Scout food drive scheduled

Each year, the Boy Scouts of America of northeastern Wisconsin collect several thousand containers of food for local pantries.

The Food Drive is set to begin Saturday, Oct. 17 with distribution of door hangers throughout the area by the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and the co-ed Venturing Crews. On Saturday, Oct. 24, beginning at 9 a.m., the Scouts return to collect the food that households have set out.

This year, there are some changes to the program. Due to some internal production and personnel issues, the company that has donated the food bags for the past 12 years is not able to provide the 500,000 bags necessary to cover the territory that the food drive annually covers. This year, informational door hangers will replace bags and will ask residents to use old shopping bags of their own to fill with food. The new look will make this a “green” food drive.

Through the efforts of these youth and the generosity of our local residents the past 22 years, over 2 million containers of food have been collected for distribution to the needy of the Fox Valley and surrounding area. Upon collection, the Scouts distribute the food through the local food pantries.

The annual food drive produces such a large amount of food, that is has become the largest single day food collection effort in Northeastern Wisconsin. Over 90 different food pantries look forward to this Boy Scout community service project to provide them with enough food and supplies to last through the winter.

“This one food drive stocks our shelves for the holidays and months afterwards, it is a very important part of our program,” says Monica Clare, director at St. Joseph Food Program, “our shelves are bare now and we are just hanging on until the annual food drive.”

The Bay-Lakes Council, BSA and the local food pantries are asking the community to be generous to the needy during this very difficult economic time. If you have questions about the upcoming food drive, please contact the Center for Scouting at 800-3SCOUTS.