SCOUTS TO PICK UP FOOD FROM HOMES

About 1,100 area Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and Explorers will collect bags of food today to help replenish food pantries.

Last week the Scouts distributed 25,000 bags to Cape Girardeau residents in the hopes they would fill them.

People who wish to participate are to fill up the bag with nonperishable foods and place the bag back on the door handle or the porch, said Tom Turpin, Shawnee District executive for Boy Scouts. The Shawnee district includes Cape Girardeau, Perry, Bollinger and portions of Scott and Stoddard counties.

Turpin said the boys may knock on doors of homes with no bags just as a reminder.

Turpin said he hoped to collect more than 35,000 cans of food, which was last year's total.

Boatmen's Bank is sponsoring the event. If people didn't get a bag, they can drop food off at any of Boatmen's bank locations.

Food pantries are at a low at this time of year, Turpin said, and there is a great need to replenish them.