Scouts' food drive fills pantry shelves

Scott City Food Pantry cabinets went from bare to brimming Saturday as community members stocked shelves with more than 4,000 cans of food through the weekend's annual Scouting for Food drive.

"The shelves were more bare than usual," said Rev. Larry Lawman, president of the Scott City Ministerial Alliance. "The pantry might not have been able to open Tuesday if it weren't for this food drive."

Scouting for Food is one of the largest single-day canned food drives in the United States, according to the Boy Scouts of America, though it actually involves two days. Every November, scouts walk door-to-door dropping off empty plastic bags one Saturday and return the next weekend to retrieve these same bags full of food.

Lawman said many volunteers came out to organize and shelve food Saturday as Scott City Boy Scout Troop 224 and Scott City Cub Scout Pack 220 together collected 3,200 cans of food for the Scott City Food Pantry. Kelso Cub Scout Pack 39 donated 800 cans.

Contributions were also brought in by the Scott City Girl Scouts, Scott City's fifth-grade class, and Eisleben Lutheran Church of Scott City.

The Scott City Food Pantry, at 804 Main Street, has been at work for about two years. Last quarter, from July to September, the pantry fed 248 people, according to food pantry director Rev. Randy Morse. The pantry also assisted nine people with their utility bills in October.

The pantry is supported both by the community and the Area Wide United Way, Lawman said. People can donate food to the pantry any time by taking contributions to their local church or directly to the pantry when it is open from 9 to 11 a.m. every Tuesday.

For more information, call Morse at 264-2300 or Lawman at 264-4942.

jgosche@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133

Submitted photo

Scott City Food Pantry shelves were filled by the area's Scouting for Food drive Saturday. From left, Trey Carter, Jared Job and Adam Dees, all of Scott City Cub Scout Pack 220, helped collect and donate the canned food.