Scouting for Food: Community Service

I volunteered with my Venture Crew last weekend, to participate in the nation-wide Scouting for Food service project. Scouting for Food, as the name might imply, is a food-collection drive organized by the Boy Scouts of America. Normally, the food is given to the local food bank. The food bank in our area relies on this November service project to stay stocked for the winter.

This project is done over two weekends. On the first Saturday, scouts walk through neighborhoods, tying plastic grocery bags to doorknobs. The action is significantly more productive and helpful than it sounds. Instructions are printed on the bags, asking the finder of the bag to fill this (or any other) bag with canned food, and to set it on their porch for pickup by 9 am the following Saturday. The bag also includes a helpful list of suggested donations, examples of what the food bank cannot accept, and a large Boy Scouts of America symbol, officially identifying the children who tied the bag to their door.

On the second weekend, Scouts go through the same neighborhoods, looking at porches and picking up bags of donations to take to the food bank.

Before continuing, I feel that I should explain why I, a female college freshman, was involved with this Boy Scouts of America service project. I am a part of a Venture Crew. Venture Crew is a part of the Boy Scouts of America organization, but it’s co-ed, high adventure, and for older kids. I am a terrible member, now that I am in college, because I have no car to get to Crew meetings and no time to get there even if I had a car. Technically, though, I am still part of my Venture Crew, and I still get the chance to crash a few of their events.

(Me and a couple of my Venture Crew friends on the 2016 Scouting for Food service project, because that was the year I took a picture.)

My Crew, Crew 3, teamed up with Troop 3. The second Saturday is always less work than the first Saturday. This year was no different. My group spent only an hour and fifteen minutes amassing food, then we took it to the food bank, sorted it, and boxed it.

I was glad to have spent the morning in such a way—serving the community and reconnecting with a few of my older friends. It was easily worth the cold. And when I got home, I still had time for a nap.