Anyone do Scouting for Food?

[starwolfmom]

One of my first acts as new Cubmaster was to promote the Scouting for Food drive, that was held in our council on March 25 (was it March 25 everywhere?)

 

We handed out the blue tags we got from council already stapled to grocery sacks (donated by a local grocery store). Each Scout got 10 sacks and we explained the process.

 

Out of 30 boys in the pack, we had eight boys participate, bringing in nearly 400 items for the Red Cross Food Distribution Center. It wasn't quite the participation I had hoped for, but it was our first time doing it and I'm proud of the Scouts that did take part.

 

Another plus: we also encouraged participation in our minor-league team's Scout Day at the ballpark and 12 boys and their parents signed up for that. In the past we had only one or two who went. So that's another sign of progress.

 

Elizabeth

[Lisabob]

We used to do it with our pack but for some reason the troops in the area aren't interested. I can't understand why. (Actually I can but I just don't agree...) So no, we didn't do it with the troop this year.

 

It is a pretty nice little service project - easy to do for cubs and certainly helpful to the community. I'm glad you were able to be part of it.

 

Lisa'bob

[gwd-scouter]

Our District does SFF in early February. Two weekends are scheduled and Troops pick one or the other.

 

SFF is promoted at District Roundtable meetings and a map of our county is laid out and each Troop and Pack selects an area/neighborhood to cover. The bags are given out at our annual District Banquet in late January.

 

Announcements are put in the local paper with both dates listed, so that the town knows about the project and won't be surprised when someone comes knocking. This also seems to have helped increase the number of donations.

 

Almost all of the Troops participate. Most of the Packs do it too, but with more limited participation. When I was Cubmaster, our Pack joined in the with Troop that shared the same Chartered Org. We teamed up a couple of Cub Scouts with a couple of Boy Scouts. Worked out very well.

 

The Saturday our Troop scheduled to do SFF this year we had an ice storm that morning so it was cancelled. We have not yet been able to reschedule it and likely will just wait and try again next year. As far as participation from our Troop - I'd say we've had about half or a bit more of the Scouts participate each year.

[Kaji]

The pack I'm with out here in Salem, WV doesn't do it, and I haven't heard of any other unit in the area doing it either. I remember helping with it the first year it ran when I was a cub over in Northern Virginia though, and doing so right on through my boy scout years (we always did it in November my district though, usually the first Saturday we'd put them out, second Saturday we'd pick them up).

[EagleInKY]

SFF is a big service project in our council. It's held right before Thanksgiving, which is probably a real good time for it. Our pack and troop work together (around 60-80 boys enrolled, probably 75% participation). We used to collect over 3000 items. Our coverage area has been cut because of there being so many units around here, so now we only get around 2000.

[Beagle Scout]

Our council does Scouting for Food in November, too. We usually distribute the plastic bags on the first Saturday and pick them up the next Saturday. We have pretty good participation in our pack, with about 2/3 of our scouts showing up each day. It takes us about 2 hours to drop off the bags in our assigned area and about 3 hours to pick up the filled bags. I think we have pretty good results, possibly because we carry extra bags during pickup day and knock on doors if the bags are not out already. We don't measure number of items collected, we measure by weight instead. I don't know what our individual pack results were last year, but at the district or council level (not sure which), I think I heard we collected about 60,000 pounds of food!

 

[starwolfmom]

Our council had the big map at the council office where units could highlight their territories. It looked like quite a few units were planning to do it.

 

There's a video rental place right next door to our council office, and this weekend they had a sign on their marquee: Boy Scout Food Drive this weekend. Bring in a can and get a free rental." I don't know how they did, but it was a nice promotion.

 

I didn't want to overwhelm our boys, so I encouraged each one to just do his own street. A few boys had terrific hauls--others only got one or two bags. But every little bit helps.

 

Our council told us we could either tally by weight or number of items. Since we didn't have a good scale, we went with a numerial tally.

 

Elizabeth

[John-in-KC]

We used to do it, then Good Turn for America made the concept of service projects a bureaucratic hassle. The Pack, Troop and Crew I'm a COR for still do a variety of service and conservation projects, but no one worries about the accounting anymore.

 

I make sure each unit has done something at recharter time, so the IH can sign off his part of the various apps, including quality unit.

[ScoutNut]

My council holds our Scouting for Food in conjunction with the Letter Carriers Food Drive in May.

 

The Pack I work with does not participate. We do our annual Haunted House "Foodraiser" in Oct, a Thanksgiving food collection & a school food drive in Feb for Scout Week. The food all goes to the Food Pantry at our church.

 

 

[gwd-scouter]

I thought I'd drop in again and mention that our Council promotes Scouting for Food in February because most food banks and other like-minded organizations . receive so many donations from October to December because of the holidays. There is a dramatic drop off in public awareness and sense of giving after the holidays, but the need is still there.

[gwd-scouter]

I thought I'd drop in again and mention that our Council promotes Scouting for Food in February because most food banks and other like-minded organizations . receive so many donations from October to December because of the holidays. There is a dramatic drop off in public awareness and sense of giving after the holidays, but the need is still there.

[OneHour]

Our Pack and Troop do participate in Scouting for Food every year. Last year we pool our resources together and gathered over 2000 pieces. We note that leaving out flyers the night before at each door work some. The next day, you have to go door to door. Leaving the flyers saying that you'll be by next day to pick up the donation will not work, maybe for 3-4 homes at best. Leaving donation box at a school help a little as well.

 

For Katrina's relief, we gathered close to 1500 pieces in 4 hours of work.

 

Good luck

 

1Hour

[funscout]

Our Pack and Troop both do Scouting for Food each year. Ours was also on March 25th. We've done it both ways, where you go out only one time, knock on doors and ask for food donations, or where you drop off labelled bags and pick them up the following week.

 

One house that we visited gave the boys 4 flats of canned goods! We found out that these folks give to the Food Pantry regularly, and just hadn't made it out there yet. It was a nice surprise for our boys.

 

Our Pack also makes up food baskets for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The boys decorate the box/basket and bring assigned food items. We then give a check to the pantry so they can buy turkeys in Nov. and hams in Dec. to go with the baskets. The lady who runs our small town food pantry is always very appreciative and writes a glowing thank you note each time.

[evmori]

This is one of the best things the BSA does. We pass out the SFF bags at our charter church after both services on Sunday & pick them up before both services the following Sunday. Everything is counted & put in the church food bank that helps the community.

 

This is a great service to the community & every unit should participate!

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[gwd-scouter]

Ed. what a fantastic idea! Never thought to hand out the bags at church services and then pick up the next Sunday. I will definately mention that to the guys. Thanks.