The scouts of Boy Scout Troop 52 in Cranbury collected food bags on Nov. 14 as part of the Boy Scouts of America “Scouting for Food” (SFF) activity.
The SFF effort started with the distribution of food drive flyers by scouts one to two weeks before the collection of food bags. The Pack 52 scouts distributed flyers to more than 1100 households in Cranbury.
Collected food was then delivered to Fellowship Hall of the First Presbyterian Church, where it was then sorted by youth and other members of the church on Nov. 15. The sorted food was then formed into food baskets a few days later by the church deacons, senior volunteers, and volunteers from other groups.
Food baskets, along with donated turkeys and turkeys purchased by the deacons, will be distributed to residents with needs from Cranbury and nearby communities.
More than an estimated 2,500 pounds of food was collected, which will provide food for more than 150 baskets that will be distributed this year.
In addition, clothing and hygiene items were also collected for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK.). This collection was the continuation of a project started many years ago by Cranbury Eagle Scout Brian Clopp.
The effort this year started with the distribution of TASK drive flyers by scouts of Cub Scout Pack 52. The distribution of flyers took place one to two weeks before the collection of the items. Scouts distributed flyers to more than 1,100 households in Cranbury.
The scouts of Boy Scout Troop 52 in Cranbury also collected the TASK bags on Nov. 14t and delivered those items as well to the Fellowship Hall of the First Presbyterian Church. Girls Scouts then pre-sorted the hygiene items into product categories, and then sorted the items into “hygiene kits” for men, women and families. The hygiene items included soap, shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste and tooth brushes, which are items that cannot be purchased with food stamps. More than 200 kits were created.
The Cranbury Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts also sorted the collected clothing. The clothing will be delivered to TASK next week. Any items that cannot be accepted by TASK will go to The Rescue Mission of Trenton. More than 40 large bags of clothing were collected.
