'TIS THE SEASON FOR FOOD DRIVES

On Saturday Boy Scouts will be putting out plastic sacks for one food drive while members of a fraternity will be picking up filled sacks for another drive, as the season for collecting food for the needy gets underway.November and December are big months for food drives, as those who organize them capitalize on the feelings of giving that abound around Thanksgiving and Christmas.This weekend, for example, two food drives are overlapping. Members of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity at Southeast Missouri State University distributed empty bags last weekend in Cape Girardeau and Jackson and will be out again on Saturday picking up what they hope will be bags full of canned goods.Also out this Saturday will be Boy Scouts putting out bags in Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Perryville, Advance, Chaffee, Oak Ridge, Marble Hill and Patton for the "Scouting for Food" drive. They will pick up the bags on Nov. 13."These drives are very important to us," said Gil Degenhardt, a board member of FISH Volunteers, which operates a food pantry in Cape Girardeau, which will receive donations from both drives.To provide grocery items for the needy, such food pantries rely on food drives to keep their shelves stocked.Last year, Lambda Chi Alpha members collected 11,000 pounds of food, said fraternity member Edward Magee. He hopes to collect at least that much on Saturday. The food collected in Cape Girardeau will go to the FISH food pantry and donations from Jackson will go to the Jackson Senior Center.Bill Crowell, senior district executive for the Boy Scouts in the Cape Girardeau area, said the youth organization's goal is to collect more than the 42,000 cans collected last year."The drive helps the food pantries," Crowell said. "But it also helps teach the kids the importance of helping others."He estimates more than 500 Scouts will be giving up two Saturday mornings to work on the drive. Those donating should put the bags on their porch or hanging on the doorknob by 9 a.m. on Nov. 13."Helping those who are less fortunate really gives these Scouts a feeling of accomplishment," Crowell said.

THE GIFT OF FOOD

Based on prices from Save-A-Lot Food Stores, here are some suggestions for inexpensive food donations:*Less than 50 cents: Canned beans, such as chili, kidney, pinto and Northern; boxed macaroni and cheese dinners; boxed cornbread muffin mix; canned soup, ramen noodles.

*50 cents to $1: Canned tuna; dry pasta, such as spaghetti or macaroni noodles; canned fruit; canned spaghetti or ravioli.

*$1 to $2: Canned beef stew or chicken and dumplings; peanut butter; dry cereal.