Published: November 11, 2009 07:36 pm      

Scouting For Food drive to kick off

By RORYE O’CONNOR

rorye.oconnor@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — Local Boy Scouts are gearing up to hit King City neighborhoods for their Scouting For Food campaign.

The Black Gold District of the Boy Scouts of America will begin notifying residents of Mt. Vernon, Bluford, Dix, Summersville and Woodlawn of their food drive on Nov. 14 with door hanger fliers, said Dennis R. Bathon, Black Gold senior district executive. Then, on Nov. 21, the scouts of the Black Gold District will return to the residences notified and pick up any nonperishable food items donated.

Leo Pigut, coordinator for the Epworth Methodist Food Pantry, said the pantry had been participating in the Scouting for Food campaign for the last 20 years. He said the amount of food they donate helps out a lot.

“We usually get about a pickup load, if that gives you any indication,” he said. “It’s great.”

Bathon said the effort usually gathers tens of thousands of canned goods for the community. The Scouting for Food campaign, which began in 1987, draws in 2 million nonperishable items nationally, said Kevin Woolever, Pack 127 Scouting for Food chairman.

“We’ll average 30,000 to 40,000 canned goods in Mt. Vernon, and for the rest of the district, 15,000 to 20,000,” he said.

On Nov. 21, scouts and their parents go out to the neighborhoods at 10 a.m., and come back to St. Mary’s Parish Center by noon to sort and disperse the food to the area food pantries.

The Black Gold District requests that any area food pantries send a letter, on company letterhead, with the pantry’s tax identification number if they want to receive food items from the drive. Letters are to be sent to Scouting for Food Chairman Kevin Woolever at 3201 Blackberry, Mt. Vernon, IL, 62864.

The pantries are also asked to send a representative on Nov. 21 to St. Mary’s Parish Center to help sort nonperishable food items.

If food donations have not been retrieved by 2 p.m. on Nov. 21, Black Gold District representatives ask that residents call Dennis Bathon at 242-8505.