The Scouting for Food drive pick-up is this Saturday in Mount Vernon and Lisbon.
As Nicole McAlexander noted in last week’s story, the need for help from the food pantry has been on the increase for the past few months already, but from July to August, the pantry saw an increase of 40 percent in visits.
It’s not just a local issue. The Food Bank of Iowa announced in August that they have seen such need that they are increasing their distribution center’s size. The center has seen the amount of food they have distributed in the state over the last six years double, and expect it to triple by 2026.
Scouting for Food is a way to make sure your assistance helps right here, locally. The people who will benefit from the donations collected by the Cub and Boy Scouts are our neighbors in this community, and all the food items they collect stay here in this community.
Scouting for Food is an opportunity for us all to do our parts to benefit the local food pantry. Current needs include spaghetti, chunky chicken soups, granola bars and canned fruit. But any donation helps people in our community to get items they need to help stave off food insecurity, especially if it’s non-perishable items.
Of course, the most important thing to note with any donations is to make sure they are not past their expiration dates. While Scouts will check those dates as part of the sorting process at Southeast Linn Community Center Saturday morning and afternoon, it’s also a great time for us all to make sure any shelf staple food has not expired.
This community supports a number of food drives throughout the year to help aid the SELCC food pantry, and this is just one of the most visible.
Plus, the Boy and Cub Scouts come directly to your porch or wherever you visibly place your bags and help those donations reach their location. Who can argue with that level of service?