Scouts collect tons of food for the needy

Sampling hot dogs, chips and soda, the Tiger Cubs of Pack 6 watched as pick-ups and minivans weighed down with non-perishable food pulled through the Samaritan Center unloading area Saturday like a parade.

When the vehicles stopped, uniform-clad Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts jumped from within to unload the beds and trunks.

Dozens of volunteers like Joy Alberts, above, help to sort and organize food brought in at the annual "Scouting For Food" event in Jefferson City Saturday. (Deborah Cote/News Tribune photo)

“It's no fair the bigger kids had the longer streets,” said Tiger Cub Noah Wisch. But he and his den, made up of Immaculate Conception School first-graders, quickly returned to regaling their own tales of carrying cases of food from the porches and how many total bags they picked up.

The eagerness to participate in Scouting for Food, one of the Boy Scouts of America's national community service program Good Turn for America projects, doesn't end with the first-grade members.

In fact, Saturday's canned goods collection spanned 33 counties, supporting local food pantries and drawing out volunteers from many parts of the communities.

Food amounts collected were as follows: Samaritan Center, 19,400 pounds; Five Rivers District, 31,400 pounds; and the Metro Area Council, 29 tons.

The Samaritan Center was selected by the individual Troops and Packs to receive a majority of the donations, said coordinator Valerie Acosta. Other donations went the Central Missouri Food Bank and individual church pantries.

Packs like Immaculate Conception set out thousands of bags on neighborhood porches last weekend. Then Saturday morning they walked door to door, picking up the donations and returning them to the distribution organizations.

Pack 6 assistant den leader Katie Roling said she “didn't realize the amount of stuff everyone left out on their porches and then at this drop off to see how much is here at one time.”

Once the scouts deposited their pick-up at the Samaritan Center, another group of volunteers took on the task of sorting each bag and box.

Samaritan Center regular volunteers worked alongside youth from other scout programs like the Ventures and the Explorers. But other volunteers turned out from local school athletic programs.

The Lincoln University softball team has made community service a priority this year, led by first-year coach Lori Reyes.

“It's good to help people that are in need,” said junior Lacy Miles, Jefferson City. “We want to let them know we're not just athletes, but we want to help our community, too.”

The Samaritan Center has distributed food valued at $249,459 since the first of the year. It averages 66 families served daily.

With a lingering lull in food support from the Central Missouri Food Bank, due to federal redirection following the hurricanes down south, the Samaritan Center has become more reliant upon community donations, said spokesman Ben DeFeo.

Yet the stock has never run dry because the community has stepped up its giving, DeFeo said.

The scouts collected 19,378 pounds of food for the Samaritan Center Saturday morning with more to come from drop-off sites at grocery stores, churches and Casey's General Store.

“I hope (the boys) learn the principle of giving to others and helping the less fortunate,” Roling said. “You don't have to know who you're give to, just that your helping those who need it.”

Adam Woolstenhulme of Troop 7 in Jefferson City carries a bag of food collected from a home on the west side of town. The annual "Scouting For Food" event held in Jefferson City Saturday collected more than 19,000 pounds of food for the Samaritan Center alone. (Photo by Deborah Cote/News Tribune)