Support for food drive appreciated

As part of the Scouting for Food program sponsored by the Monmouth Council of Boy Scouts of America, Troop 258 of Howell collected more than 3,200 pounds of food for distribution through the township’s Youth and Family Services programs.

The troop collected enough canned and dried goods to supply 60 holiday baskets to deserving families. The troop also donated a gift certificate for the purchase of a holiday turkey with each basket.

The Scouting for Food program is important to the Scouts of Troop 258 because it is one way in which each Scout can pay back in a small way the community in which they live. It gives each Scout, no matter how old, time to understand that there are people in their own community who are less fortunate than themselves. It drives home the principle of Scouting’s "Do a Good Turn," and that it should be a way of life.

Troop 258’s involvement in the Scouting for Food program usually begins three weeks prior to Thanksgiving. The troop committee decides which housing developments will be asked for donations. Maps of each of the developments are broken down into sections of 20 homes. Each Scout is then assigned a particular section and given the donation bags and letters for distribution to the different homes.

This year we were able to distribute more than 1,600 donation bags. After the food bags are collected, they are brought to a central location and separated into food categories. The baskets are then made up at the next regular weekly troop meeting and turned over to the township’s services departments the next day.

The troop is fortunate in that it receives a generous monetary and material donation for the purchase of the gift certificates from its charter sponsor, Bilkays Trucking. All remaining money needed to purchase the gift certificates is taken from the troop treasury.

As Scoutmaster of Troop 258 and on behalf of the troop committee, Scouts, and Scout families, we wish to express our thanks to the communities of Howell — and especially to those families who called to help without solicitation — for their donations and assistance.

William Sanner

Scoutmaster, Troop 258

Howell