Scouts Food Collection is Sunday

Local scouts will deliver brown bags to New Lenox homes starting this week, marking the start to their massive annual food drive, which continues to grow.

Residents are asked to fill the grocery bags with food items that will be donated to the village's three food pantries. Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts all participate and will collect the grocery bags Nov. 13.

Director Bill Thomson talked about how proud he was of the growth of the event over the last couple years. He spoke at a Village Board meeting last year .

"Last year I was talking about how proud we were and I think we had 15 kids here," Thomson said. "You can see how the program has grown." 

In 2010, the scouts put bags on 6,750 front doors and collected about 44,000 food items, an astounding 30,000 more than the drive garnered in 2009. The troops also collected $2,900 from local businesses to help pay for food, fliers and signs.

This year, 9,000 grocery bags will be circulated and the goal is to collect at least 50,000 items. Bags will be collected at noon Nov. 13. The items will go to the three local food pantries:

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