Thursday, December 11, 2008

Belvoir Cub Scouts help those in need

Courtesy photo
Fort Belvoir’s Cub Scout Pack 118 participated in the Boy Scouts of America’s annual Scouting For Food campaign, Nov. 1 and 10, collecting 81 bags of food from residents outside of the Woodlawn Village housing. The Scouts collected an estimated 400 pounds of food from the community.

On the first two Saturdays in November, the quiet of the early morning was broken by sounds of energetic chatter and running feet as thousands of boys canvassed neighborhoods with bags to collect food to distribute to the needy in and around our nation’s capital.

Fort Belvoir’s own Cub Scout Pack 118 participated in the Boy Scouts of America’s annual Scouting For Food campaign, collecting 81 bags, estimated at more than 400 pounds of food, in the neighborhood outside of the Woodlawn Village housing. The food, and that collected by other Boy Scout and Cub Scout units in the region, was donated to the Capital Area Food Bank to distribute to
more than 700 charitable organizations in Washington, D.C.; Maryland and Northern Virginia.

Since 1910, the ideals of Scouting have guided young men to serve others and their community.  Responding to the plight of America’s poor and hungry is a traditional Scouting “Good Turn.”  During World War I, Boy Scouts planted vegetable gardens to provide food for the hungry.  President Roosevelt called on scouts to collect food for the needy during the Great Depression.  Planting Victory Gardens were the Scouting “Good Turns” organized during World War II.  Today, Scouts continue their good turn efforts in community stewardship through Scouting for Food.

In last year’s Scouting For Food campaign, the units of the National Capital Area Council collected nearly 1 million pounds of canned food.

In December, Fort Belvoir’s Cub Scouts will partner with Carpenter’s Shelter in another service project aimed at helping the less fortunate living in our community. Carpenter’s Shelter helps area homeless children, families and adults stabilize their lives, overcome homelessness and become contributing members of the community.

The Cub Scouts will assemble Christmas stockings for the children and collect bulk items for use by the families who will be spending the holiday season at The Hubert N. Hoffman, Jr. Center for
Homeless Families in Alexandria.

Thomas Baxter, Cub Scout Pack 118 committee chairman, said, “The Scouting experience is not only about having fun in the outdoors and learning skills these boys can use the rest of their lives, but about building character, citizenship and a sense of responsibility to our community.  The boys learn that doing something for someone else without any expectation of reward is its own reward and can even be fun.”