The Greater St. Louis Area Council will hold its 25th annual Scouting for Food “Good Turn” in November. During the 25 days leading up to collection day on Nov. 21, we will look at various aspects of the annual service project. Today, we turn the keyboard over to Frank Finnegan, Executive Director of the St. Louis Area Food Bank. Frank wrote the article in 1994, but says it’s a relevant today as it was 15 years ago. He expressed sincere appreciation to all who helped make Scouting for Food successful throughout the last 24 years.
Each morning I take a walk around the warehouse to see what types of food we have to distribute. Much of our product is donated by the food industry. What types of products do they donate? Typically, overproduction, changes in packaging or items close to freshness date.
Frank Finnegan, Executive Director of the St. Louis Food Bank, speaks during a 2005 press conference on Scouting for Food.
The product that caught my eye today was soda. We have truckloads of soda, assorted flavors, diet, regular, with caffeine and without caffeine. We have soda in bottles, cans and plastic, in 12 ounce, 16 ounce, 24 ounce and 2 liters. We have local private label soda and national brands from Vess, Minute Maid, Lipton and Pepsi.
Another item in the warehouse that caught my eye was a truckload of brown boxes. Seventeen hundred cases of simple, unmarked brown boxes. If you looked into one of them you’d see 300 packets of powdered cheese sauce. The type of cheese sauce used with macaroni and cheese. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a donation of macaroni, just the powdered cheese packets.
After checking out the cheese, I ambled into the rear of the warehouse where the inventory clerk was unloading a truck. It contained huge bulk boxes that we trucked into town from Cincinnati. Each box had a banded seal on top. The truck driver said he didn’t look and didn’t know what was inside them. The label confirmed what I already knew, “Bulk bag —389 lbs — Not for Resale — Further Processing Required.” In other words, those boxes each had one huge bag of cereal in them that would need to be packed into one or two-pound bags and labeled before distribution.
The inventory clerk was staging the product at the opposite end of the warehouse, on our indoor basketball court. Or, at least the guys have used it as a basketball court for the last three days. It stands as in immense empty area, approximately 6,000 square feet of floor space. It’s our annual tribute to the power and impact of Scouting for Food. By the time you read this, the basketball court will have disappeared, magically turning into an area filled with canned goods of meat, fruit and vegetables.
Back at my desk, I‘m getting ready for a luncheon speaking engagement with a Rotary Club. I will talk about the Food Bank, where we get our product and the food pantries and shelters to which we distribute. I will tell them the majority of people going to food pantries work part-time jobs without benefits. And, that children still comprise the largest percentage of those living in poverty.
I will also tell them about the soda, about the cheese packets and the cereal. And, although I’m happy we have these products to distribute, I will ask them to think about children only having cheese sauce and soda and cereal to eat.
Finally, I ask them to support Scouting for food, because I’ll be much happier when we have canned fruit, vegetables and meat to distribute as well.
What does the Scouting for Food Good Turn mean to you or your family? You’re welcome to join the conversation by leaving a comment.
