Collecting Food to Help Others in Need
Scouting for Food is a national Scouting America program. Each spring, many councils across the country participate, collectively gathering hundreds of thousands of pounds of shelf-stable goods for food-disadvantaged residents of their local communities.
Scouting for Food takes place on two consecutive weekends. On the first weekend, Scouts distribute bags and/or door hangers to let their neighbors know about the drive. On the second, Scouts revisit those houses to pick up bags full of canned food, cereal, pasta, peanut butter, juice and other nonperishable items. Scouts may also setup collection points at local grocery stores.
In Cross Plains, Scouts BSA Troop 87 and Cub Scout Pack 87 work together on the food drive supported by Terry's Piggly Wiggly. Our efforts collect upwards of a thousand pounds or more of non-perishable food, personal hygiene, and household supplies for the Mazomanie Community Food Pantry (MCFP). MCFP serves the same communities Pack 87 and Troop 87 serve: Mazomanie, Black Earth, and Cross Plains.
On the first Saturday the Scouts distribute the door hangers across the village.
The following Friday evening a donation table is staffed outside the Piggly Wiggly. Scouts distribute a list of the MCFP's most needed items to shoppers as the enter and collect those items from the participating shoppers as they leave the store.
On the second Saturday morning Scouts and their families collect donations from doorsteps throughout the village. The donations are then amassed and sorted by category at the pool shelter, weighed, loaded onto a trailer and delivered to MCFP.
