by Davy James, Staff Writer
As Halloween approaches, an entirely different form of trick-or-treating will be taking place throughout South Brunswick.
Instead of looking for a sugar rush and bellyaches, local youths will be working to help needy families put food on the table, as the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts begin their annual Scouting for Food drive. Scouts will visit homes and leave collection bags in hopes residents will donate items when the Scouts return a week later.
”The Scouting for Food program does this every year and this year we’ll have six units of the Scouts handing out bags to individual houses,” said Committee Chairman Mark Butera, of Troop 90, who has a son in the Boy Scouts. “We’re looking to cover the whole community. The good thing about this program is that the food is collected in South Brunswick and stays in South Brunswick.”
The program traces its roots back to the Great Depression when President Franklin Roosevelt called upon the Scouts to collect food for the needy, according to Mr. Butera.
Approximately 200 volunteers from Boy Scout Troops 10, 90 and 888, and Cub Scout Packs 98, 107 and 108 will begin the drive during the weekend of Oct. 25 and begin collecting filled bags on Nov. 1. All collected items will be given to the South Brunswick Food Pantry and go toward packing a holiday meal for the less fortunate.
”We’re hoping for anything that can go with a Thanksgiving meal like stuffing, cranberry sauce and stuff like that,” Mr. Butera said. “Gift cards for supermarkets would be great because it gives social services the availability to fill in what’s missing.”
Mr. Butera said the program didn’t have a specific goal for donations, other then leaving and picking up bags from each home in South Brunswick.
”This program allows the kids to give back to the community and gives them a good feeling to help other people,” Mr. Butera said. “At any point someone can find themselves in need. My family lost our house in a fire a few years ago and the community helped us through a hard time. This is a way we can pay back people’s generosity towards us.”
Anyone who doesn’t receive a bag and wishes to donate or whose bag isn’t picked up should contact Mr. Butera at 732-422-6546.

