ST. LOUIS — The Greater St. Louis Area Council–Boy Scouts of America have brought back the huge Scouting for Food drive for its 36th year. The annual food drive has collected more than 50 million cans of food since it began in St. Louis in 1985.
On Saturday, Nov. 20, more than 27,000 scouts, parents and volunteers will go from door to door throughout the area to collect donations. They cover more than 60 counties throughout the St. Louis-metro area, southeast Missouri, Southeast Illinois and central Illinois.
To share a donation, place canned foods or non-perishable items in the blue bags that were dropped off last week. Put your bag in front of your front door and scouts will collect them this Saturday.
You can also make a virtual donation by texting SCOUTFOOD to 91999. Each $1 donation provides about four meals.
The collected items will be taken to local fire stations, where they will be sorted and boxed. From there, a local transportation company will coordinate a fleet of donated trucks and volunteer drivers to collect the food and take it to the St. Louis Area Foodbank for distribution. Donated food items outside of the city and county are taken directly to food pantries.
Within 48 hours of the scouts' collection, more than 550,000 meals will be distributed and ready to feed the hungry — just in time for the holidays.
“Over the last 35 years, St. Louis residents have helped provide more than 10 million meals to those in need,” said Dave Chambliss, who's the director of marketing for the Greater St. Louis Area Council. “This year, we’re asking them to continue this spirit of giving, to fill up their bags with whatever they can give, and help feed the hungry during the holidays.”
The Scouting for Food Good Turn originally started in St. Louis in 1985. It then expanded nationally, becoming America's largest one-day food drive. About 2 million food items are collected locally each year for those in need.
Last year, the traditional door-to-door collection was cancelled due to COVID-19. The Boy Scouts instead set up a "text-to-give" campaign for distanced financial contributions. Enough money was raised to provide 112,000 meals for local children, adults and seniors. The organization has brought back the virtual option in 2021 to go along with its door-to-door collection.
“Last year, despite so many facing financial and health difficulties, our community still turned out to give back,” Chambliss said. “We hope that goodwill continues this holiday season as our Scouts return to neighborhoods throughout St. Louis and Illinois to collect food and make this our best Scouting for Food year yet.”
Visit the Scouting for Food campaign website for more information.
