Scouting for Food

November

Scouting For Food is the largest one-day food drive in the United States of America. The first Saturday in November empty plastic bags are distributed by Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. These bags are delivered to apartment complexes and condominium complexes (with prior approval), neighborhoods, and other communities. The second Saturday the same Scouts return to these areas and collect the bags which are full of food donations. These donations are collected at two local Winn-Dixie stores and taken to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida where it is distributed to those in need in time for Thanksgiving. We celebrate the Scout’s participation and effort with a pizza party after the collection.

Local Cleanups

Scouts can clean up as they walk along a trail, a sidewalk or a parking lot. When they
do this as an organized event it is called a Cleanup. These may be done as a Den or as a
Pack. The Den Leader completes the Good Turn for America information sheet and turns
it in for the den to receive credit. Local Cleanups are important because they teach the
Scout to value their immediate environment and help it remain usable for future
generations to enjoy.

Gleaning

The winter months offer opportunities to “glean” with The Society of St. Andrews. We glean citrus fruits from the trees by collecting the fruit, bagging the fruit, and then loading it onto a tractor-trailer. Gleaning is what happens after the mechanical “pickers” have gone through the grove or in grove considered too small for the mechanical pickers. The fruit harvested is taken to local area soup kitchens and homeless shelters.

Tuskawilla Presbyterian Church workdays

On occasion we are invited by our Chartered Organization, Tuskawilla Presbyterian Church to join them in a workday. Scouts can help spread mulch, plant small plants and flowers, rake leaves, and help serve refreshments.