Scouting for Food collecting items to assist hungry

ALEXANDRIA — Douglas County residents will have a chance to help the hungry this week.

That's because the Northern Lights Council of the Boy Scouts of America is hosting its annual Scouting for Food drive, which collects non-perishable food items to take to the local food shelf.

"There's a lot of people that utilize the food shelf here in Alexandria, and with funding being cut for the SNAP program, there's going to be even more people utilizing the food shelf," said district executive Brenda Thomson. "We just want to be somebody that can help. We want to do whatever we can to help the community. That is part of what we do in Scouting."

Donation boxes have been set up at Cub Foods, Elden's, Gate City Bank and the Douglas County Library.

The library is offering a special deal where for every non-perishable item a person donates, a dollar will be taken off their fine, if they have one, up to $5, Thomson said.

In Osakis, boxes have been set up at Brothers Market and the grocery store, she said.

Monetary donations may also be made to the food shelf as part of the drive, Thomson said.

Scouts will be on hand to accept donations at Cub from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday, March 25, and the box at Gate City Bank will be available through the end of March.

Thomson said if boys or girls are interested in becoming Scouts, they can visit beascout.org , enter their zip code and get information on the units in a 10- to 20-mile radius.

"We have many units in the area," Thomson said. "You can join any time of year. A lot of people think because they see recruiting signs in the fall that you can only join in the fall, but you could join now if you wanted to."

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/BoyScoutTroop412 .