Thousands of pounds of food were collected and sorted Saturday as Boy Scouts and volunteers continued a nationwide tradition.
The annual Scouting for Food event, which began in 1985 as a St. Louis Eagle Scout project and has spread all over the country, culminated in Mid-Missouri on Saturday as Boy Scouts throughout the Five Rivers District went through neighborhoods collecting food donations. Each year, Boy Scouts from troops throughout the district spread the word of the annual food collection by putting up door hangers asking people to leave out non-perishable food and personal care donations the following weekend, all of which are donated to local food pantries.
In Jefferson City, collections go to the Samaritan Center, which often faces a lull in donations after the holidays. Because of that, Scouting for Food often provides the first major donations of the calendar year for the Samaritan Center.
Janet Ruth, Scouting for Food coordinator, said about 75 volunteers had come out Saturday morning to the location next to Save-A-Lot on East McCarty Street to help sort donations after being collected, plus about 800 scouts and their families.
"It is a family thing," Ruth said.
Ntimpa Gad, 16, and William Mollenkamp, 14, are both tennis players for Jefferson City High School who joined the team to volunteer Saturday as part of the team's service project.
"It's kind of fun helping out," Gad said.
Both said the morning had featured some competition over who could sort faster and deal with more items, helping to make the experience more fun for all. However, as Gad pointed out, being in front of so much food for so long, started to make them hungry.
Clancy Dunn, 13, said his troop had opted not to go out collecting this year, and instead, he decided to volunteer to sort in order to earn service hours. Dunn said the hills in Jefferson City can make collecting a tough job, and he was enjoying helping out in another way.
Throughout Saturday morning, cars would pull into the parking lot, some nearly filled with donations while others only had a bag or two to be taken from the trunk. Before noon, Troop 104 began unloading more than 1,100 pounds they collected.
The Samaritan Center collected a total of almost 7,000 pounds of food Saturday; the Boy Scouts' total reached more than 8,000 pounds.
Anyone who had put donations out to be collected that were not taken Saturday should contact Kelsey Huston at [email protected].