Some people just can't do enough good turns...

[eisely]

I believe this is in one of the areas of Michigan where the United Way has turned its back on scouting.

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Scouts scurry to help homeless

Bath kids distribute bags, collect food for young adult shelter

 

 

CHRIS HOLMES/Lansing State Journal

 

Chief Okemos Council: www.chiefokemosbsa.org

 

By Hugh Leach

Lansing State Journal

 

BATH - Although Boy Scouts nationally will conduct Scouting for Food drives in April, Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts in Bath are going to jump the gun.

 

They have a special cause that can't wait. Gateway Community Services' Crossroads program needs help now.

 

Crossroads is a homeless shelter for 16- to 21-year-olds located in Lansing. Its ability to serve young people in Clinton, Eaton and Ingham counties has been severely affected by budget cuts.

 

"We've been hurt by reductions in funding and not getting a federal grant we hoped for," said Dawn Robertson, a Crossroads worker, whose son Benjamin is a member of Bath Cub Scout Pack 267. "I suggested to the Cubmaster that collecting food for the shelter would be a way for little kids to help big kids, and he jumped right on it."

 

Saturday, Cubs from Pack 267 and Boy Scouts from Bath Troop 67 will travel throughout Bath distributing bags and flyers, urging residents to fill them with nonperishable canned and boxed food items. The Scouts will collect the bags the following Saturday.

 

Bags were donated by L&L Food Centers and S&S Party Stores.

 

"We decided to do the Scouting for Food drive in March because Gateway needs help right now," said Cubmaster Paul Lacroix.

 

During a Scout meeting at Bath Elementary School on Tuesday, Lacroix gathered the boys around him and explained the project.

 

"We're all very fortunate to have homes and parents to go home to, and when you go home, you have a pretty reasonable expectation that dinner is going to be on the table," he said. "The people we are going to help have no place to live, no moms to go home to and don't know where their next meal will come from."

 

The boys got the message and are eager to help.

 

"I feel good that we're going to do this," said Kyle Kopitsch, 11. "We don't know what it's like not to have food."

 

Jacob Clarke, also 11, agreed.

 

"They don't have stuff that we can afford," he said. "It's a chance for us to help out."

 

The food drive will be the first community service project in which most of the Scouts from Bath will participate.

 

Andrew Lathrop, Gateway marketing and community relations director, said the Scouts' effort could indirectly help other agencies.

 

"It shows how much help the community can be," he said. "All nonprofits are struggling right now. This could encourage more people to do more to help out."

 

[VentureScoutNY]

Scouts in Action, doing a good turn. Thanks for sharing!