Scouts Miss Food Drive Goal : Group Collects Over 400,000 Cans, But Was Hoping for 1 Million

An estimated 25,000 Boy Scouts went door-to-door Saturday collecting canned goods in Orange County’s largest annual food drive.

The Scouts visited about two-thirds of all county homes, where last weekend they had left plastic bags and messages that they would be returning for donations.

But by day’s end, totals fell far short of the 1-million-can goal and considerably shy of the 645,000 cans collected last year. Cindy Wimer, Boy Scouts Orange County Council District executive, said this year’s drive netted 487,760 cans or 375,200 pounds.

“It’s kind of depressing,” Wimer said Saturday night. “I thought this year’s drive was better organized, but I think we could have done a better job getting the word out.”

During his rounds, Troy Teel, a 15-year-old Mission Viejo Scout, noticed that donations seemed to be more generous from the less affluent.

“My personal opinion is the people who don’t have as much have more of a feeling for what (needy) people are going through,” he said.

Troy and dozens of other boys spent the morning knocking on doors, then carrying their collected cans and packages back to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 27976 Margarite Parkway in Mission Viejo, one of 25 collection sites in the county.

Even with the smaller collection totals, Scouts on the street found that the only times they came away empty-handed occurred when residents were not at home.

Saturday’s event was also one way to fulfill the Scout’s slogan: “Do a good turn daily.” And for 9-year-old Cub Scout Troy Anderson, it also was an opportunity “to help people.”

Despite recent controversies involving Boy Scouts of America and stories of fraudulent charities, food drive organizers had set their sights high this year, hoping to collect 1 million cans.

“I think Scouts have a reputation for integrity,” said Al Lindeman, Boy Scout program chairman for the Saddleback District.

Earlier in the day, Lindeman conceded that recent scandals, including those involving alleged embezzlement at Irvine Temporary Housing and a state attorney general’s investigation of the Irvine-based Orange County Charitable Services, may sour the public on some other charitable groups.

“I think we’ve all become a little cautious of organized charities that are not affiliated with national organizations,” he said. “I am, a little.”

The Boy Scouts of America recently has weathered controversies of its own, including the withdrawal of support by some corporate backers because of the organization’s discriminatory stance regarding gay and atheist membership.

However, Wimer said that such controversies probably have not hurt the organization’s do-good image.

“To be perfectly honest, I think people are taking the opposite view,” she said. The controversies seem to have prompted a groundswell of previously “silent supporters” who have telephoned and otherwise made known that they still are behind the Scouts, she said.

On Saturday, Scouts between the ages of 7 and 20 hoped to visit about 660,000--or two out of every three--Orange County homes where last weekend they had left recyclable plastic bags for packing.

The boys took their gathered canned goods and other foodstuffs to the collection sites, where they were boxed by Scouts and troop leaders and then loaded into large trucks donated by the California National Guard.

The food was transported to the Food Distribution Center in Orange.