SCOUTS COLLECT MORE THAN 50,000 CANS OF FOOD

Area Boy Scouts lived up to their motto of helping others Saturday, collecting as many as 50,000 cans of food to help feed the hungry this winter.

The area-wide count wasn't official Saturday, but "this year could be the biggest," said Harold Meagle, chairman for the district's "Scouting for Food" drive."We're looking for as many as 50,000 cans of food in the district," said Meagle, of KFVS-TV 12.

Last year, the Shawnee District in Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Perry, Scott and Stoddard counties collected 35,000 cans of food. The count has been up and down over the past half-dozen years, from 32,000 cans to as many as 42,000 cans three years ago."The food remains in the community where it was collected," said Meagle."The people were generous this year," said Jerry Siemers, Cubmaster of Pack 18 and Scoutmaster of Boys Scout Troop 8, who pulled into the 4-H Building at Arena Park, with a pickup truck filled with canned food. "This is our third load."Scouts fanned out to all areas of Cape Girardeau early Saturday, and by 10:30 a.m. had brought more than 20,000 cans of food to the 4-H Building collection point. Another 10,000 cans were brought into the building during the rest of the day.

Counts from Jackson, Scott City, Marble Hill and other areas were expected to boost the total past the 50,000-can mark.

Gil Degenhardt, a volunteer with FISH, one of the recipients of the food, was busy Saturday, keeping count of the food, and making sure that each of the four recipients would receive a variety of food. The four recipients of the food in Cape Girardeau are FISH, Salvation Army, Gibson Recovery Center and the Safe House for Women.

The Boy Scout Food Drive is a big asset for all of these centers, said Degenhardt. "This drive is one of the largest providers of canned food to the centers."Meagle said as many as 30,000 Scouts were out collecting food Saturday throughout the district."We have a system, an organized map of the area," Meagle explained. "We have laid out grids for our packs and troops to use in collecting the food."The food was delivered to the four centers Saturday, said Meagle.