Begin forwarded message:

From: Stephen Lewis <swlewis@sbcglobal.net>

Subject: Scouting for Food - Another Successful Year

Date: November 19, 2024 at 7:53:20 AM EST

To:  

 

Hello South Windsor Scouters

 

We had a very successful Scouting for Food operation on Saturday - Thanks to all the units for their Good Turn efforts and please thank your scouts and families in your upcoming meetings.  We had a good balance of coverage at both stores and volunteers bringing the food from the stores to the food pantry. The Cub Scouts did a great job talking to customers about the effort and getting people to donate. I loved seeing the teamwork and enthusiasm from all the units. Also thanks to Jon Yeich for being the location leader all day at Geisslers and Nicole Papa for her long stint at Stop & Shop.

 

Andrea Cofrancesco at the SW Human Services Dept. told me that they were very low on available food at the pantry and everyone's work, and the generous donations of customers at the two stores, restocked those shelves and then some just in time.  We also collected just over $2,000 in cash donations which I delivered yesterday. Andrea was very thankful for our efforts.

 

A special thanks to John Zahner who has been instrumental in helping Scouting for Food the last few years. John coordinates the town's emergency services / Rotary collections and so helped with a lot of expertise and donations of needed items.  John made up Scouting for Food banners last year that we can use at three different tables each year going forward. John has donation signs and donation boxes we use with the Scouting for Food branding he created, and he made up the flyers and copies that we used to hand out to customers at the doors. He also supplied new moving boxes we could tape up and use in addition to any boxes we scrounged up. 

 

One last thing, we can also extend our impact by reminding our families and those we reach on social media about the opportunity to donate directly to the food pantry either with online donation through the SW Community Foundation or by delivering needed food to the pantry.  Here are the links you can share:

 

Donation - Donate to South Windsor Community Foundation 

 

Donate Food - Needed Items List and Times for Drop Off

 

https://www.southwindsor-ct.gov/human-resources/files/hat-flyer-south-windsor-june-2017

 

 

Plans for Next Year

 

We should plan for next year to target Saturday November 15, 2025 as our SFF date. That would put our Troop Challenge weekend on Friday - Sunday November 7-9.  Does anyone see a problem with those dates? We should lock these dates on our calendar now if we all agree.

 

Thanks

 

Steve Lewis