Mon Valley Scouting for Food project wraps up this weekend

By ERIC SEIVERLING

eseiverling@yourmvi.com

Thanks to Valley-wide efforts by local scouts, area food pantries will receive a generous donation this weekend.

The Mon Valley Scouting District in Southwestern Pennsylvania is wrapping up its month-long Scouting for Food project, which saw scouts team up with donation sites throughout the Valley to accept food dropoffs and raise money for local food pantries.

All this week the scouts will collect the donations and deliver them to their chosen food pantries.

The Mon Valley Scouting District consists of Cub Scout packs and Boy Scouts of America troops from Finleyville, Monongahela, New Eagle, Charleroi, Speers, Elco, North Charleroi, Belle Vernon, Washington Township, Rostraver Township, Monessen, California, Carroll Township, Coal Center, Fallowfield Township, Donora and Union Township.

“The goal is to teach the scouts to give back to the community and make sure emergency food pantries have food for people with food insecurities,” said Mon Valley Scouting District Chairman Rev. Jude Urso, pastor at First United Methodist Church in Monongahela, where Cub Scout Troop 1446 and BSA Pack 1448 collected donations. “All of us have seen an uptick in the needs of the people, either from being laid off or not working. There is a continuous need.”

Urso said scouts from Monongahela collected more than 800 pounds of food and raised approximately $2,500 during the month, enough to provide more than 500 meals to people in need.

“The kids went door to door asking for donations, and it’s amazing to see the boxes of food that these kids have brought in,” he said.

To read the rest of the story, please see a copy of Tuesday’s Mon Valley Independent, call 724-314-0035 to subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at http://monvalleyindependent.com.