Victor Volland Of the Post-Dispatch, St Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
In a sense, the Scouting for Food drive that begins Saturday will be the last hurrah for St. Louis Boy Scout Executive Bob Meinholtz. This will be the last time Meinholtz heads the program, which he initiated nearly a decade ago.
But Meinholtz, who is retiring in May, isn't stopping to reminisce about the program, now a national model. The continued rise in hunger here and around the nation, coupled with new cutbacks in federal food commodities, promises to make this year's Scouting for Food effort the most important ever.
The drive hit its peak two years ago, when the Scouts collected 1.75 million pounds of food, said Meinholtz.
"And last year, even with all the collecting we were doing during the flood, we managed to take in 1.5 million pounds. But we need to top the 1992 record this time," he stressed.
More than 300,000 people seek help at area food pantries each month, an increase of about 10 percent in the past year, said Glenn Koenen. He is a board member of the Metropolitan St. Louis Food Pantry Association. Most of the growth in the past year has been among the working poor in St. Louis County and St. Charles County, he said.
At the same time, government surplus foodstuffs distributed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture are being cut by about two-thirds in the budget year that began Oct. 1.
Frank Finnegan, executive director of the nonprofit St. Louis Area Food Bank, said butter was the only government commodity now on hand. In the past, cheese, cornmeal, flour and honey were available.
Only about 1 million pounds of surplus food is expected to be available to the Food Bank and its 325 member pantries in the coming year. That's less than what will be produced by the one-shot Scouting for Food, the Food Bank's greatest source of high-protein, high-nutrition foods - such as canned meats, stews, chili and beans - Finnegan said.
The collection, the largest single-day food drive in the country, will adequately stock the shelves of the Food Bank and its pantries through the difficult first months of next year, he said.
The 10th annual Scouting for Food kicks off Saturday when some 30,000 area Cub and Boy Scouts drop off plastic collection bags at thousands of homes in eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois. They will return the following Saturday, Nov. 12, to collect filled bags.
"We effectively shut down the Scout Council for two weeks, close all our camps and focus solely on the food drive," said Meinholtz, who has headed the nation's sixth-largest council since 1980. …
In a sense, the Scouting for Food drive that begins Saturday will be the last hurrah for St. Louis Boy Scout Executive Bob Meinholtz. This will be the last time Meinholtz heads the program, which he initiated nearly a decade ago.
But Meinholtz, who is retiring in May, isn't stopping to reminisce about the program, now a national model. The continued rise in hunger here and around the nation, coupled with new cutbacks in federal food commodities, promises to make this year's Scouting for Food effort the most important ever.
The drive hit its peak two years ago, when the Scouts collected 1.75 million pounds of food, said Meinholtz.
"And last year, even with all the collecting we were doing during the flood, we managed to take in 1.5 million pounds. But we need to top the 1992 record this time," he stressed.
More than 300,000 people seek help at area food pantries each month, an increase of about 10 percent in the past year, said Glenn Koenen. He is a board member of the Metropolitan St. Louis Food Pantry Association. Most of the growth in the past year has been among the working poor in St. Louis County and St. Charles County, he said.
At the same time, government surplus foodstuffs distributed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture are being cut by about two-thirds in the budget year that began Oct. 1.
Frank Finnegan, executive director of the nonprofit St. Louis Area Food Bank, said butter was the only government commodity now on hand. In the past, cheese, cornmeal, flour and honey were available.
Only about 1 million pounds of surplus food is expected to be available to the Food Bank and its 325 member pantries in the coming year. That's less than what will be produced by the one-shot Scouting for Food, the Food Bank's greatest source of high-protein, high-nutrition foods - such as canned meats, stews, chili and beans - Finnegan said.
The collection, the largest single-day food drive in the country, will adequately stock the shelves of the Food Bank and its pantries through the difficult first months of next year, he said.
The 10th annual Scouting for Food kicks off Saturday when some 30,000 area Cub and Boy Scouts drop off plastic collection bags at thousands of homes in eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois. They will return the following Saturday, Nov. 12, to collect filled bags.
"We effectively shut down the Scout Council for two weeks, close all our camps and focus solely on the food drive," said Meinholtz, who has headed the nation's sixth-largest council since 1980. …
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