Scouts Track Down Food for Needy

More than 50,000 Boy Scouts fanned out across Orange County Saturday, going door-to-door to 300,000 homes collecting food and clothing for the needy.

After predictions of heavy rains, organizers of the 10th annual “Scouting for Food Plus” said the dry, clear weather was a boon to their efforts.

“It’s going quite well considering everyone thought it would be pouring rain,” said Lane Calvert, field director for the Orange County Council of the Boy Scouts of America “The boys have done a great job.”

Working in small groups under the direction of den mothers and fathers, the Scouts dropped off plastic bags at homes last weekend, asking for nonperishable canned food and clothing for this weekend’s pickup. It’s the largest one-day food collection drive in the county.

“The boys learn about helping other people and doing their best,” said Kathy Hornbeak of Santa Ana, whose 10-year-old son, Andy, participated in the project. “It also keeps them away from the television sets and into activities where they’re using their minds.”

With the weather on their side, organizers hope to beat last year’s record of 250,000 pounds of donated clothing and 200,000 pounds of food.

While the weather may have helped the Scouts’ effort overall, it didn’t appear to increase giving in some neighborhoods.

For den mother Becky Fletcher’s troop in Santa Ana, the boys picked up only three bags of canned goods in their six-block route.

Wearing tan uniforms and holding rumpled maps of their route, the boys walked away from stoop after stoop with crestfallen faces.

“Hey, we’ve got food over here,” yelled Louis Fletcher, 9, after finding one sack left by Nancy Welmon, who packed up cans of green beans, cranberry sauce, peaches and tomatoes from her cupboards.

“I’ll do whatever I can to help the Boy Scouts,” she said.

One neighbor, Pera Radam, 62, walked out of her front door with the trash--also in a white plastic bag--right when the Scouts approached, all whooping with delight because they thought she had a sack full of food for their cause.

Radam tossed her garbage, but went back inside to cobble together some food. “It’s good to do something nice for the kids,” she said, handing over a sackful of canned corn, beans and soups.

The Scouts delivered the donations to one of the 24 countywide drop-off sites, where it will be transported to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County and Goodwill Industries of Orange County.

At one of the drop-off sites, the parking lot of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Orange, huge cardboard boxes were loaded on a flatbed truck. The food--from diced green chilies to cereal and even some dog food--was separated into canned goods, boxed food and glass containers.

“We even got some cans of caviar,” said Joe Perry, 18, who was helping to load the trucks. “That’s very Orange County.”