Anyone do Scouting for Food?

[sunsetandshadow]

We have tried in the past with very little success. The public school also has a food drive in the spring and the classes all compete to see which class can bring in the most food and then that class has a pizza party. So all the kids e even had a large plywood box that we inherited from a pack that closed down. It was big and very visable and we put it in front of our grocery store in town and after one week we had ONE can! We have decided to focus on other service projects.

[mbscoutmom]

Our chartered organization has a food pantry, so our troop and pack work together to collect a lot of food. Scouting for Food is in early February here, and each pack or troop is assigned an area of the city. The boys go around the neighborhood hanging bags on the door one weekend, and return to pick them up the following weekend. In addition to our assigned area, our pack did a neighborhood which had no pack of its own, and the troop also did an additional neighborhood. We also handed out bags to our parochial school, and put a notice in the bulletin for parishioners to bring donations to the school. In all, I think the troop and pack collected over 1,000 items for the food pantry. That was really needed, because our area had taken in a lot of Hurricane Katrina and Rita refugees.

[anarchist]

Scouting for Food is very big in our council...last drive collected over 822,000 pounds of food thats over 411 TONS of food for areas food banks...the districts all participate and generally approach 65-70% participation (based on registered scout numbers)...

 

generally speaking the food is "gathered" to a site selected by our District and after beinging weighed is sent to different food banks in the district. Most of the boys really get jazzed by helping others in such a visible (and heavy way).

 

In recent years we have been coordinating with several cub packs where they distribute the bags in a mapped out neighborhood one Saturday and the troop (with some energetic Cubs) spends the next saturday collecting...Some units set "manned" (scouted?) baskets outside of grocery stores (with permission) for shoppers to pick up a few extra cans of food for donation...and really gather in a haul!

 

If you are just starting the early years tend to be "light" but it builds as the community "learns". And remember...ADVERTIZE! ADVERTIZE! ADVERTIZE! Flyers, news stories, posters, door to door handouts with the bags!The public has got to know what you are doing for it to really work!

 

BTW...as a local unit, we did a similar thing for "Katrina" but added a plea for cleaning supplies (bleach) and hand tools and gloves....we helped our church fill a tractor trailer with supplies...again the boys really liked to see what "they" could do!

 

Good luck

Anarchist

[Newbie Den Leader]

Our Pack did it back in February. The method we used was to drop off bags at homes on one Saturday and come back and pick them up the next Saturday. We collected alot of food, but it was not really the success we had hoped for. The vast majority of homes did not set out any bags on pick-up day. The problem with our method is getting folks to remember to set out their bags for pick up. We plan to change our approach and planning for next year.

 

A sidenote: Some scouts came through my neighborhood and placed Scouting For Food bags on my door. I filled the bags and set them out on my porch for pickup the following Saturday. THEY WERE NEVER PICKED UP.

 

 

[clydesdale115]

The Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts where we used to live (metro-Atlanta) did this every year and it was very successful. Seems like it was Feb or March - they'd leave a bag (with a note about the project, plus a Chik-fil-A coupon) on the front door, then come pick it up the next week.

 

We haven't heard anything about this at our new home/Pack. Each year around Christmas, we do a mini-food drive at a pack meeting - not sure if you can call that "Scouting for Food" - but nothing like canvassing neighborhoods.

 

Most of you mentioned having a giant map at Roundtable and the Packs/Troops divide the area among themselves - does that mean that an official Scouting for Food Drive needs to be at the district-level? Can it be an effective service activity for an individual den or pack? (I also like the idea of the Pack leaving the bags one week and the Troop returning the next week to collect.)

 

Last year at the Blue and Gold, our den sponsored a canned food drive, then we delivered it to the local Food Bank. They gave our boys a tour of their warehouse and freezer, and weighed the food items we brought. This was obviously in February. As gwd-scouter mentioned, donations to food banks run out by February and March - there is a real need at that time.

 

clydesdale115

[Beagle Scout]

I know that not everyone is comfortable knocking on doors and would rather just collect bags that are already filled, but I would estimate that we double the amount of food collected when we do check with people who have not left their bags out.

 

We've also found it's best if the same scouts who dropped off the bags work the same streets the next week to pick up the donated food to lessen the chance that someone's donation is not picked up. Still, I'm sure it happens, which is why the bags provided by our council have instructions to take the bag to the local food bank or drop it off at any of the partner grocery store's locations.

 

[starwolfmom]

I would agree with Beagle Scout on the knocking on doors. One boy in our pack only got two bags--and one was his own family's. His mom said they had dropped off the bags along their street, and when they went back the next Saturday, no one had put any out.

 

When my son and I did our street, we knocked on doors so we could explain what we were doing and how it worked. If no one was home, then we just slid the bag between the screen door and front door. When we came to collect, only 2 of 9 houses had put out bags, but when we knocked on the doors, we got 6 more bags full of donations.

 

Elizabeth

[sst3rd]

Our Council has done Scouting For Food for many years on the first and second weekends of November, as was the BSA's National Good Turn program. However, since the BSA has terminated that program and allowed each Council to do their own thing, our Council decided to keep all as is. We are the number "1" contributor to our local food bank. The first weekend the units distribute the bags to our assigned territories. The second weekend the units pick up the bags that have been set out with food.

 

What makes this program so successful and simple for our Scouts, is that each District in the Council, organizes its areas and assigns each unit (Pack, Troop, or other) a territory. A local grocer donates and prints special paper grocery bags for all of the units to use. On these bags are the dates and instructions for our Scouting For Food program. It's worked great for years, and the Scouts get a great sense of pride for helping our community.

 

sst3rd

[Newbie Den Leader]

Scouting for Food is great program and gives the boys a sense of accomplishment by helping others. We have found that the best results come by knocking on doors rather leaving bags hanging on door knobs. In fact, the results are far, far better. Folks are very receptive when they see Scouts in uniform collecting food for the needy. They are much less responsive to impersonal bag left on the door knob.

 

Example: One of our cubs was disappointed that no one on his assigned streets left a bag out for him to pick-up. Rather than go home empty handed, he knocked on each door of one of the streets and collected food from everyone that answered their doors. His collection was greater than the rest of the Pack combined.