Scouting for Food brings 2.9 tons of food to the Watertown Food Pantry

Pack 30 and Troop 30 worked together Saturday to collect, deliver and sort 5904.9 pounds of food for the Watertown Food Pantry.

“It’s incredible what the scouts can do,” said Food Pantry Director Kathleen Cunningham, watching the operation.

Scouts flyered their neighborhoods, asking for donations to the food pantry to be left where scouts could pick them up. Then the morning of Nov. 19, scouts fanned out across Watertown and picked up nearly three tons of food and personal items for the Food Pantry.

Once delivered to the United Methodist Church at 80 Mt. Auburn Street, the thousands of cans of beans, soups, boxes of pasta and other food needed to be sorted to a scale the food pantry can actually use. For that, Troop 30 used the help of volunteers from the Pennacook Lodge Order of the Arrow, the Eastern Massachusetts branch of scouting’s honor society. They offered a day of cheerful service, helping to sort tons of food.

Scouting for Food is a national program of BSA Scouts, supporting pantries across the U.S. The Watertown food drive mobilizes helpful neighbors to keep the Watertown Food Pantry fully stocked through May.

The Watertown Council on Aging administers the Watertown Food Pantry, which provides food assistance to any Watertown resident in need. The food pantry is open on only Tuesdays, 10 am to 2 pm.