Scouting for Food

On December 6, 2008, Boy Scouts of America Cascade Pacific Council, United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley, Marion-Polk Food Share, and the Volunteer & Mentor Center will be partnering to collect food across Marion, Polk, and Yamhill Counties for the annual Scouting for Food event. 

For over 30 years, local Boy Scout troops have walked their neighborhoods on the first Saturday of December collecting food donations for families in need.  To increase the impact of this year’s event, the Boy Scouts are collaborating with a number of local agencies to collect our goal of 75,000 pounds of food, twice the amount raised in 2007. 

Local Boy Scout troops will once again be going door-to-door collecting food in their neighborhoods, but this year they will be joined by volunteers from Marion-Polk Food Share, Women Ending Hunger, the forty United Way Partner Agencies, and the community at-large. 

Volunteer support is needed from 9AM -1PM on Saturday, December 6th in local neighborhoods to collect Scouting for Food bags filled with donations and to then deliver the collected food to a specified drop site. 

All donated food will go to Marion-Polk Food Share and its affiliated charities.  As the regional food bank, Marion-Polk Food Share provides the bulk of the emergency food supply for the entire two-county area.  Last year that meant 4.8 million pounds of food distributed to hungry area residents through a network of 78 local member charities. 

Individuals interested in volunteering can sign up for Scouting for Food by contacting the Volunteer & Mentor Center of the Mid-Willamette Valley at 503-363-1651 or by visiting the “Special Events” page at http://www.givebacktoday.org. 

For more information about this event, please contact Mikki Trowbridge at the Volunteer & Mentor Center of the Mid-Willamette Valley at (503) 363-1651 or at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).