Local Scouts to collect food donations outside grocery stores
Scouts from the Gray Arrow District of the California Inland Empire Council of Scouting America will conduct their annual Scouting for Food drive from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the entrances of grocery stores from the greater San Bernardino Valley to the Banning Pass.
As shoppers enter participating stores, Scouts and other volunteers will give them lists of foods most needed by agencies that provide food to people in need. People may leave their food donations with the Scouts as they leave the stores. Participating stores include some Stater Bros. stores from the San Bernardino Valley area to the Banning Pass area. Albertsons and Gerrards Market in Redlands and Jensen's in the mountains will also participate, and the Sprouts store in Redlands will donate some items directly to Scouts service project leaders, according to a news release.
The food collected in the drive will go to nonprofit agencies including the San Bernardino and Redlands Salvation Army service offices; the Family Service Association of Redlands and its Yucaipa Outreach Project; Yucaipa Family Assistance; and H.E.L.P. Inc. in the Banning Pass.
For the seventh year in a row, some of the food will also go to the Inland Empire Ronald McDonald House in Loma Linda, according to the news release.
In the mountain communities, Operation Provider, which helps families in need, will receive food from the drive.
After the drive, Scouts, parents and leaders will sort and deliver the food. Joining them for a fifth year will be members of the Young Marines, sponsored by the Redlands Elks Lodge.
Members of the Kiwanis Club of Yucaipa Valley and youth members of the club's Key Club will also participate in the drive, according to the news release.
The Scouting for Food drive has taken place in the Inland Empire since 2001. Scouts collected more than 35,000 pounds of food and water in last year's drive, according to the news release. For information about the Scouting for Food program, contact Ed Lucas, chair of the program for the Gray Arrow District, by emailing edmech02@msn.com or calling 951-906-3713.