Scouting For Food THIS SATURDAY NOT GOING DOOR TO DOOR THIS YEAR

November 12, 2020

SCOUTING FOR FOOD SET FOR NEXT 2 SATURDAYS – Local Scouts will be collecting canned and non-perishable food items on Saturdays, Nov. 14th & 21st in Potosi. The ‘Scouting For Food’ program will be different this year with Scouts not going door to door, but collecting at ‘Donation Stations’ at Save-A-Lot and Walmart parking lots in Potosi. Here, Cub Master and Leader John & Jamie Hagermann, along with their children, Scouts Jacob & Josie pose for a picture with Potosi Police Officers Scott Pratt and Benito. The City Police want drivers to keep their eyes open as the Scouts work to collect food items on the local parking lots.

Potosi Cub Pack 160 and Boy Scout Troop 480 need your help - and so do thousands of hungry people across the area.

Local Scouts are participating in the annual “Scouting For Food” drive again this Fall. The 2020 Food Drive takes place on two consecutive Saturdays: November 14th and November 21st.

This year is going to be different, just like everything else, as the Scouts are not going door to door with bags, but are set up ‘Donation Stations’ on the parking lots of Potosi Save-A-Lot and Walmart.

This Saturday, Nov. 14th, the collection will be from 9 to 11 a.m.

The next Saturday, Nov. 21st, the collection will be from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.

Food donated locally will be distributed through relief pantries in our area. (Life Church and St. Vincent de Paul at St. James, Potosi).

This year the Scouts hope to match or better the success of last year’s food drive which resulted in more than 1.9 million cans of food collected in the St. Louis District over the years Scouts have collected 59 million cans of food. Again this year the food pantries are looking for protein rich food such as canned tuna, peanut butter, canned vegetables, canned ravioli, soup, beef stew, etc. Nothing perishable or in glass containers- Canned goods, plastic or boxes only, please.

Non-perishable food products are what is to be collected. Canned goods, especially those with meat are very much appreciated but any canned goods such as fruits, vegetables, etc. are also very much appreciated. Boxed food products are also greatly appreciated. PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE ANY OLD, DENTED, RUSTED OR DAMAGED CANNED GOODS AND ALSO NO GLASS PRODUCTS.

Your help is desperately needed. Please take the time to make a donation to support area families. Your help will be greatly appreciated.

During the 2019 Scouting For Food Drive, St. Louis Area Scouts collected nearly 2 million cans of food - essentially the same as the previous year’s drive.

BACKGROUND- Scouting For Food is the BSA’s largest one-day food drive, raising 15 percent of area food pantry’s yearly supply and feeding the hungry in the community for three months.

The campaign is launched on “Bag Distribution Day” when Boy Scouts typically distribute plastic bags to residences. The Scouts return to residences on the following week, “Bag Collection Day,” to retrieve the bags filled with donated non-perishable items.

This year has forced an alternative plan to the tradition. The hope by the Scouts is that next year, they’ll be back hanging bags on your door knob and collecting stocked bags for those in need.