Local Scouts Hold Food Drive Saturday

On Saturday, March 23, local Boy Scout troops and Cub Scout packs working in conjunction with the Nutley Rotary will collect food for the Nutley Food Pantry at the Red Cross office in Nutley.  

Scouts and Rotarians will be outside Nutley Park ShopRite on March 23 to accept donations from residents. They are seeking stew, chili, hash, tuna, chunky soups, pasta, pasta sauce, rice, macaroni and cheese, canned vegetables, canned fruit, peanut butter, jelly, hot/cold cereal, coffee, tea and baby formula/food.

The Red Cross accepts all non-perishable groceries, but not expired cans. The scouts request that donators check expiration dates before donating items. They are also making a personal care collection for the care pantry at Vincent United Methodist Church. 

The collection is part of Scouting for Food day, the nation’s largest single-day food drive. Scouting for Food began as a service project for the St. Louis Area Council in 1985 and was adopted by the National Organization in 1988 when one millionScouts collected an estimated 65 million cans of nonperishable food. This marks the twenty fifth year of the event which attracts thousands of scouts and adult volunteers.

The organizers say that need this time of the year is especially great. During February the local pantry served 682 people including 235 children where over 6,000 food items were required.  

The Red Cross Chapters is also participating in the Feinstein Foundation challenge which divides $1,000,000 among hunger fighting agencies based on the food and monetary donations raised during March and April. The food pantry at the Red Cross in Nutley is one of the largest in Essex County.

The campaign was launched on "Bag Distribution Day" the weekend of March 16 when Scouts distributed bags to residences in Nutley. The Scouts return to homes the next week to retrieve the bags filled with donated non-perishable items.  If a scout does not contact a home, donations may be dropped off at the Red Cross on Chestnut Street on March 23  between 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.  You may also call a scout representative at  973-661-0454.

Within 48 hours of the Scouts' pick-up, the donations will be on pantry shelves on Chestnut Street ready to feed the needy.

Across the country, thousands of troops and millions of scouts collect tens of millions of pounds of food which is distributed to needy neighbors. Scouting for Food is the nation's largest one-day food drive, raising 15 percent of area food pantries' yearly supply and feeding the hungry in the community for three months.