Start stash for Scouts' annual food drive
By Darryl E. Owens, Sentinel Columnist|October 10, 2009
On the first Saturday morning in November, my son and I will suit up in our Boy Scout best and join the army of Scouts landing in Greater Orlando neighborhoods on a mission of mercy.
That morning, Scouts in seven counties will hang more than 700,000 empty plastic sacks on doorknobs. And the following Saturday, we hope to haul away more than 600,000 pounds of food to help tide over struggling families this winter.
This mass mobilization of good-deeders is for Scouting for Food, the mother of Scouting service projects in Central Florida and the region's largest single-day food drive. Some area food pantries rely on the annual drive as their primary food source from November through March.
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Sure, the date's a month away. However, with the increasingly urgent need, there's no time like the present to start thinning your shelves.
"This is going to be a more difficult year [with] more people in need," says Gary Brewer, director of development for the Central Florida Council of Boy Scouts of America. "If you talk to the food banks, their shelves are nearly empty."
Signs of need are everywhere.
For example, with the state drowning in red ink, more Floridians are turning to food stamps to stay afloat. A mind-blowing 12 percent of the state's population — some 2.3 million Floridians — are using the program to provide three square meals. And many come from the ranks of the working poor pinched by the soft economy.
The Christian Service Center, which dishes up meat, veggies, salad and what Executive Director Robert Stuart calls the "best soup in Orlando" with the noontime meals its Daily Bread program serves, has seen a 30 percent jump in need during the past two years. The need is mirrored at its three pantries, where most of the food the center receives from the Scouting drive goes to support its Family and Emergency Services program.
"That's where we've lacked some of the needs — especially food — because they're coming to us more often," Stuart says. The food from the Scouting drive is critical, he says, "to help our neighbors who are in emergency situations, whether by the economy, health care or whatever."
For 21 years now, Central Florida Scouts, like a trusty St. Bernard, have helped deliver aid.
By Darryl E. Owens, Sentinel Columnist|October 10, 2009
In 2006, Scouts reeled in 454,000 pounds of food for the less fortunate. That same year, Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida — for which the Scout drive is its second-largest contributor of food behind Winn-Dixie — fed about 53,900 people in a given week. Last year, that load rose significantly, as did the Scout haul — to 600,000 pounds. That was a 15 percent jump over 2007. And despite the still sluggish economy, Brewer expects to top that mark.
"People respond to human needs," he says. "I think the perceived need in the community this year [is great], and people will be more responsive."
About 20,000 Scouts will put in about four hours each Saturday making the rounds. Scouts who collect at least 40 pounds of goods earn a special patch. It features a kangaroo with a sackful of canned goods.
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For me, the drive offers a chance to give back and to teach my son Brian the godly lesson of helping the less fortunate, and of paying it forward — as crystal balls often suffer blackouts when it comes to predicting when sour circumstances may leave you, too, in a crisis.
Through Scouting for Food, it is expected that needy Central Floridians will be able to chow down on more than 430,000 meals this winter.
"The demand for food remains high," says David Krepcho, Second Harvest executive director. "With people out of work and [so] many homeless families, Scouting for Food is critical because it replenishes the food shelves in our warehouses and brings much needed relief to thousands of families during the holiday season."
So, here's what you do.
Grab a sturdy sack or a small box. Pad over to your pantry. Grab some canned vegetables. Not that dusty can of Brussels sprouts from the Reagan-administration era. The good stuff. Corn. Green beans. Spinach. Tuna's good, too. So is that box of Minute Rice or dried pasta. Round out the donation with a couple of snack-sized cans of fruit cocktail, which never have enough cherries.
Set it aside and wait. On Nov. 7, grab that Scouting sack off the doorknob and stuff it.
And some sharp-dressed Scout in Brevard, Flagler, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia counties will take it off your porch the following weekend.
Then, you're done.
But the good you've supported is just beginning.
Nov 11th by Bo Terry
