Thousands of Utah Boy Scouts will canvass the state today during the annual "Scouting for Food Drive."
Food collected will go to the Utah Food Bank and other emergency pantries across the state. Last weekend Scouts distributed special bags to many households to put non-perishable food in. Donations will be collected from Utah doorsteps today starting at about 9 a.m. The special bag is not a necessity — you can leave any bag full of commercially packaged/non-perishable food on your doorsteps for pickup early this morning.
Anyone who is not contacted by Scouts by about 11 a.m. can go to one of the collections points (listed below) and make a donation until about 2 p.m.
"It's the single biggest good turn that Scouts do all year," said Paul M. Tikalsky Jr., director of marketing for the Great Salt Lake Council.
Last year the drive collected some 1 million pounds of food, and organizers hope to exceed that this year. The annual drive accounts for up to 50 percent of the yearly supply for local food banks.
"The Utah Food Bank looks forward to the Scouting for Food Drive every year," said Jim Pugh, Utah Food Bank director. "Through the service of thousands of Boy Scouts throughout the state, the Utah Food Bank is able to meet the needs of our neighbors who suffer from hunger. The need for food continues to increase in our communities and it's only through the help of the Boy Scouts and the donations of community members that make it possible to meet those needs."
Yellow Transportation is supplying some trucks this year since the National Guard has many of its units involved in active duty. The National Guard will still be involved with this year's effort, however, as well as Associated Foods.
The Trapper Trails Council, headquartered in Ogden and covering an area from Kaysville northward, hopes to collect some 475,000 cans of food this weekend.
"Scouting's oath to America has always been to serve other people at all times," said Rich Barnes, Trapper Trails Scout executive. "We take that oath very seriously and each year we provide more than 181,800 hours in service to the community."
The National Parks Council, with offices in Utah County, will also participate.
Northern Utah food collection points are:
(Cache County) Cache Community Food Bank, 255 N. Main, Logan;
(Box Elder County) Box Elder Community Pantry, 481 S. Main, Brigham City;
(Weber County) Catholic Community Services, 2504 F Street, Ogden;
(Davis County) Layton Fish and Loaves, 1332 N. Hillfield Road, Layton; Davis County Food Bank, 1449 N. 1200 West, Layton; Davis County Courthouse, 28 E. State, Farmington; 450 N. 200 West, Bountiful; Woods Cross High, 600 W. 2200 South, Woods Cross;
(Salt Lake County) LDS meetinghouse, 1623 S. 500 East, Salt Lake City; University of Utah Married Student Center, 470 S. Wasatch Drive, Salt Lake City; LDS meetinghouse, 3101 S. 2300 East, Salt Lake City; LDS meetinghouse, 755 E. Three Fountains Drive, Murray; LDS meetinghouse, 565 E. 7200 South, Midvale; LDS meetinghouse, 2225 E. 6800 South, Holladay; LDS meetinghouse, 8000 S. 1275 East, Sandy; LDS meetinghouse, 10600 S. 1050 East, Sandy; LDS meetinghouse, 12270 S. 1190 East, Draper; LDS meetinghouse, 3900 S. 4000 West, West Valley City; 7235 W. 3500 South, Kearns; Eisenhower Junior High, 4315 S. Redwood Road, Taylorsville; LDS meetinghouse, 1988 W. 11400 South, West Jordan; LDS meetinghouse, 2901 W. 9000 South, West Jordan; Smith's Food & Drug, 7061 S. Redwood Road, West Jordan; LDS meetinghouse, 1220 S. 1300 West, Riverton;
(Summit County) Park City Community Church, 4501 N. U-224, Park City; Community Action, 11 S. Main, Coalville; Community Action, 30 S. Main, Kamas.
E-mail: lynn@desnews.com