2004 Scouting for Food Results

On the weekend of November 13, 2004, 32 Cub Scout packs, 20 Boy Scout troops, and the local Order of the Arrow chapter collected 78,971 lbs. of food in Loudoun County.  This represents a 41% or 22,747 lb. increase over our 2003 Scouting for Food collections. This year, Scouts collected 4,313 lbs. of food for Messiah's Market, 16,803 lbs. for LINK, Inc. and 57,855 lbs. for the Community Holiday Coalition as shown in the table below.  Our district's Scouting for Food web site lists the amount of food collected by each pack and troop: http://home.earthlink.net/~blshiflett/index.htm

During this Thanksgiving season, the Holiday Coalition expects to serve over 900 families, LINK will serve about 350 families, and Messiah's Market will serve about 75 families.  The Scouting for Food drive provides the bulk of the non-perishable food for the Holiday Coalition and LINK Thanksgiving distributions.

There are plenty of success stories to report.  First of all, I'd like to recognize the Scouting for Food rookies, the new units or units that have not participated in the drive for the past three years.  The rookies contributed a combined 8,000 lbs. of food.  They are: Pack and Troop 1106, Pack 663, Pack 71, Troop 572, Troop 761, and Troop 998.  Much of our success is attributed to new units participating this year.  

I'm proud of the efforts of each participating pack and troop, and here are just a few of the success stories at the unit level...

• Last year Pack 1483 led the ranks with 5,637 lbs. of food collected from Broadlands. Following the 2003 Scouting for Food drive, Pack 1483 split into two packs, Packs 1483 and 1484, both chartered by Our Savior's Way Lutheran Church.  This fall, Pack 1483 again led the district with 6,107 lbs., and Pack 1484 collected 2,910 lbs.  That's a combined 9,017 lbs!
  

• The three "biggie size" Leesburg packs, Pack 958, Pack 965 and Pack 1550, all broke the 3,000 lb. mark.  Their totals all fell within a 50 lb. range (3,142 to 3,192 lbs.).  That's what I call a balanced program.
  

• Pack 1154 once again broke the 3,000 lb. mark with a total of 3,516 lbs. collected
  

• Pack 961 collected 2,948 lbs. -- a 1,600 lb. increase over their 2003 total.  Our internal auditors are investigating whether their collections include cases of unsold Trail's End microwave popcorn.  Just kidding!  Pack 961 really organized well for Scouting for Food this year, and the results show it.
  

• Pack 951 collected 2,766 lbs. -- 1,100 lbs. more than in 2003 and 2,300 lbs. more than in 2002
  

• Troop 970 led all Goose Creek troops with collections totaling 2,455 lbs.
  

• Rookie Troop 572 blazed onto the scene and collected 2,326 lbs.
  

• Troop 1154 collected 2,279 lbs. -- 1,676 lbs. more than last year
  

• Pack 1167 and Troop 1167 joined forces again this year and collected 2,225 lbs. -- 1,750 lbs. more than last year
  

• New kids on the block, Leesburg Pack 71, made a big debut by collecting 1,919 lbs.
  

• Other units exceeding the 2,000 lb. mark this year: Pack 998, Pack 1152, Pack 1158, and Pack 1162
  

• Units hitting or exceeding the 1,000 lb. mark this year: Pack 905, Pack and Troop 962, Pack 969, Pack 975, Pack 982, Pack 997, Pack and Troop 1106, Pack 1148, Pack 1151, Pack 1155, Pack 1156, Pack 1157, Pack 1666, Troop 711, and Troop 950

Now I'd like to recognize the great efforts by the troops and OA members working the collection sites ...

Troop 163 once again staffed our collection site in Purcellville.  They collected and transported 10,426 lbs. of food compared to 8,035 lbs. last year and  4,715 lbs. in 2002.  In addition to hauling all that food across the county, they weighed the incoming food bags at the collection site, offloading that task from a very busy Holiday Coalition collection team.  Next year, Troop 163 may get their own floor scale and shopping carts.

Troop 1158, Troop 950 and a number of OA members worked the LINK collection site.  Not only did they process the nearly 17,000 lbs. of food from our Goose Creek units, but they handled another 11,000 lbs. brought in by Powhatan District packs and troops.  When I stopped by to pick up our gear at the end of the day, I was amazed to see how much of that food was already unbagged and sorted.  I'd like to thank Alan Steiner for serving as the "Scouter-in-charge" of the LINK collection site.  Hopefully units delivering food to LINK noticed an improved service time by having their food weighed in bulk on a floor scale.

At the Community Holiday Coalition, I called upon my "old faithful," Troops 997 and 961, to run the front-end collection operations along with help from the OA in the sorting rooms.  In addition, Troop 1550 and 970 sent in Scouts and adults to work, and there were volunteers from other packs and troops who stayed after their drop-off to help sort.   Karen Velez, program manager for the Holiday Coalition wrote me today, "I can't thank enough every adult Boy Scout leader/parent and more importantly the boys ... what a great service to the community!! You are terrific!"  Troop 997 dove in first thing upon their arrival Saturday morning and devised a successful strategy for routing and unloading vehicles and moving the food into and throughout the building.  We had to use a number of smaller, triangular-shaped rooms -- much different and more challenging than the open warehouse we were accustomed to last year.

In addition to stepping up to a new Scouting for Food territory in Sterling, Troop 761 volunteered to staff the Messiah's Market collection site.  While we had only targeted about 2,000 lbs. of collections for our first year working with Messiah's Market, Pack and Troop 1106, Pack 1155, Troop 761 and Troop 956 collected a combined 4,300 lbs -- over twice our expectations.  Messiah's Market may not get the same level of exposure as the Holiday Coalition's and LINK's holiday distributions, but Messiah's Market faithfully serves a group of client families week-in and week-out.  During the past year, Messiah's Market was unable to receive a reliable supply of non-perishable food items from their contributing grocery stores, so the collections delivered by the Scouts fill an important void in their operation.

I look forward to having all the packs and troops and the OA serve again next year.  For those units that did not participate this year, we welcome your participation in 2005.  The 2005 Scouting for Food dates are likely to be on November 5 and 12; however, the NCAC calendar does not show the schedule at the present time.  There's plenty of opportunities to get involved -- just send me an email or give me a call to get started.   Our hardworking Scouts and leaders have made Scouting for Food a premier service project.  Thanks to the them, over 1,300 families in our neighborhoods requiring basic needs assistance will be receiving nourishing food at Thanksgiving time and beyond.  Good work everyone!

Brian Shiflett
Scouting for Food Coordinator
Goose Creek District, NCAC

Unit Results for 2004