Boy Scouts Kick Off Annual Food Drive With A Goal of Over 100 Tons
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Over the next few weekends, RI's boy scouts will be on the move collecting non-perishable food items for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank and local food pantries as part of the 26th Annual Scouting For Food Drive. Scouts will canvas neighborhoods throughout the state to drop off plastic donation bags to neighbors on October 26, and then return to collect the donated foods on November 2. The goal this year is to collect over 100 tons of food, annonced the Narragansett Council and the Boy Scouts of America.
Narragansett Council’s Scout Executive/CEO, John H. Mosby, highlighted the importance of the drive. “For over 25 years, the drive has not only helped our neighbors in need, but it has also shown our Scouts how the community can and will step forward to help others less fortunate than themselves.”
Last year alone, the drive collected more than 200,000 pounds of food. Since the drive’s inception in 1988, the Narragansett Council has collected over 8 million pounds of food for those in need. “Our Scouts work hard each year to make the drive a success, and we encourage donations of any size as thousands of families are still struggling and in need of help,” said Mosby.
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“We depend on the Boy Scouts every year to bring in hundreds of thousands of pounds of food,” said Andrew Schiff, Chief Executive Officer of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. “This can only happen with the participation of the communities in which they live. We hope everyone will put an extra can or box of healthy food in the Scouting for Food bag this year. Families across our state are counting on you. We are immensely grateful to the Scouts for this incredible effort.”
The Rhode Island Community Food Bank currently serves more than 68,000 people through its statewide network of emergency food programs. One in three individuals served is a child under the age of 18.
Donors are encouraged to fill their bags with the Food Bank’s most needed items:
· Protein: canned soup, tuna, canned meats, peanut butter, and nuts
· Canned fruits and vegetables including juices and tomato sauce
· Carbohydrates: nutritious breakfast cereals, whole wheat pasta and rice
· Crackers, granola bars, as well as cheese & cracker snacks
· Canned or dried beans
Scouting for Food, the largest food drive in New England, is a cooperative effort supported by the Narragansett Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, WPRI Channel 12, FOX Providence, the Rhode Island Army National Guard, Walgreens, The Valley Breeze and local fire stations.
If the Scouts are unable to cover your neighborhood, please visit any Rhode Island Walgreen’s store to drop off donations the week following the drive or bring your donation to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank any week day between 8 am and 5 pm.
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