Help local Boy Scouts collect food for those in need

Cub Scouts collect food at a Safeway.

You might want to do a little extra grocery shopping to help the needy during the Scouting for Food campaign sponsored by the National Capital Area Council of Boy Scouts of America.

Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts will be going door-to-door Nov. 7 dropping off plastic bags and asking residents to fill them with non-perishable food and other items to help those in need. They will return on Nov. 14 to collect residents’ donations.

This year’s goal is to collect one million pounds of food for food banks in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region. Scouts will also be at Safeway stores to collect donations and sell prepackaged bags of food for $10, which will go toward the 1 million-pound goal.

Items in highest demand include canned protein (tuna, salmon, chicken), canned soup and stews, 100 percent fruit juices, pasta, rice, brown rice, boxed macaroni and cheese, multigrain and low-sugar cereal, oatmeal, canned vegetables, canned fruit, condiments, diapers, toilet paper, tissues, soap, and toothpaste.

“More than 30 million Americans, including six million children, go hungry at some time every month,” says Les Baron, CEO and Scout Executive of the National Capital Area Council. “We cannot help those children be ‘Prepared. For Life’ if they do not know where breakfast is coming from. Scouting for Food helps these families while teaching our scouts the value of serving the community.”