Scouts to pick up food donations Saturday

Published 12:00 pm Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Expect to see Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts busy in neighborhoods across the Greater Dalton area on Saturday.

For the past 40 years, Scouting America, formerly the Boy Scouts of America, has organized Scouting for Food, an effort to gather food for local food banks across the nation.

Locally, Scouting America is partnering with the Kiwanis Club of Dalton in the effort to collect nonperishable food items, such as canned and boxed goods, as well as hygiene products such as toothpaste.

On Saturday, Feb. 1, Scouts and their parents left door hangers at homes across the area explaining what Scouting for Food is and how to donate.

“What will happen this Saturday, starting at around 9 a.m., they will return to those homes and pick up the food that has been donated,” said Kiwanis Club President Carlton Beard. “That process will take as long as it takes, but it’s usually over by about noon.”

Those who got the door hangers and wish to donate should leave their food out Friday night or early Saturday morning.

“They (the Scouts) will take what they collect to the Salvation Army’s food center at 1103 N. Thornton Ave. where volunteers will help package it into distributable form,” Beard said.

If you didn’t get a door hanger, you can still contribute.

“You can bring the food to the Salvation Army food center Saturday morning,” Beard said.

He said the food collected during the Scouting for Food event “stays in the service area of the local Salvation Army, which is primarily Whitfield County.”