Scouting For Food to fill shelves at Open Doors

Submitted by Barry Simpson

On Saturday, Nov. 7, Westfield residents are likely to see Scouts strolling their neighborhoods.

Westfield Scouting America Crews, Troops, and Packs will hold their annual Scouting For Food from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7. Scouts will be canvassing Westfield neighborhoods to gather nonperishable food items to stock the critically low shelves of Open Doors of Westfield. Look for signs at the entrance of your neighborhood to know whether Scouts will be there.

“We have partnered with Open Doors for well over 20 years with a fall food drive and collected thousands of pounds of food each year to be distributed to Westfield families in need,” Troop 1070 Committee Member and food drive coordinator Danica Eyler said. “We are proud to be Westfield based and helping local residents!”

Each of the last three Novembers, the Scouts have collected and sorted more than 4,000 pounds of food and were able to make a significant cash donation as well.

“This annual Scouting food drive is impactful and aids in donating food at the right time,” said Kurt Wanniger, Westfield City Council member and Vice President for Operations for Open Doors. “This food will benefit the overall wellbeing of our community in more ways than most realize – the single parents making ends meet, the elderly person who has to decide between buying food for their pet or buying their meds, the child that will not go to bed hungry or go to school hungry and not be able to focus.”

According to Eyler, Scouting For Food marks the second largest single collection day of the year for Open Doors.

“It is vital to ensuring their ability to provide holiday meals to our community and weekend snacks to our students in need,” Eyler said.

Signs at the entrances of neighborhoods, including Centennial, Coventry, Oak Manor, Village Farms, Harmony and Silver Lakes, will let residents know if Scouts will be in the area. To participate, residents can have food items bagged and labeled “Scouts” or “Open Doors” and ready for pickup by the front door.

Donations will also be accepted at Webster & Garino, LLC, at 209 E. 179th St., Westfield, through Nov. 6 and in the parking lot west of Open Doors at 19360 Tomlinson Road from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 7.

“One of the best things about volunteering at Open Doors and seeing groups like this doing food drives in the importance of teaching the next generation the value of serving and giving back to their community,” Wanninger said.

For a list of critically needed items, visit opendoorswestfield.org.

About Scouting America
Scouting America has been serving the community of Westfield and providing character development, leadership training, and outdoor adventure to youth for more than 75 years. This event has been supported and organized by Troops 107/1070 that meet at Christ United Methodist Church; but has been expanded in recent years to encompass all Scouting America Units that serve the Westfield Community. Westfield scouts serving the Westfield community. Youth between ages 5 and 21 interested in Scouting should visit beascout.org for a list of and contact information for the scouting units in Westfield.