On Saturday, Nov. 4, Scouts and leaders from Troops and Packs all over Northern Virginia will be gathering food donated by their neighbors, and bringing it to local charities in the annual Scouting for Food collection. Last year, over 630 scouts and 500 adult leaders collected 42,500 pounds of food in the Powhatan District covering Great Falls, Herndon, Reston, Oakton, and Chantilly.  

Due to last year’s high demand for food pantries, spring food drives were run this year in addition to the usual fall drive. Price increases and pandemic benefits expiring have also increased the need for a good turnout this November.

Here are comments made earlier this year about the need for food drives.

From Betty at LINK: “Food demand is high, and higher food prices mean donors are not able to be as generous.”

From Minerva at Cornerstones: “I was just letting my supervisor know that in 6 days in the month of March we have assisted 95 clients. That number includes 30 seniors in our delivery routes, but after the SNAP cut we are expecting those numbers to increase.”

From Roberta at the South Lakes High School PTA Food Pantry earlier this year: “Our food pantry is depleted pretty much weekly with the families and students we serve. Last week we served:

• 190 students in the student pantry

• 148 families and students at our curbside distribution 

• 15 students at Langston Hughes Middle School (this is a static # right now)

• 125+ $25 grocery gift cards every 3 weeks

“These numbers have consistently continued to increase over the last several weeks. With the discontinuation of the Pandemic SNAP benefits we expect the need to continue to rise.”

Get ready for Scouting for Food to meet the need for food donations for our local food pantries. All donations go to local charities that distribute food to those in need in our community. These charities will receive food from the scouts between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Nov. 4, and will accept any donations from the public as well. Drop-off locations include the following: 

• LINK, at the Trinity Presbyterian Church at 651 Dranesville Road, Herndon

• Community of Faith UMC Food Pantry, at 13224 Franklin Farm Road, Herndon

• Cornerstones, at 11484 Washington Plaza West, #120, Reston 

• South Lakes High School PTSA Food Pantry, at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church at 1133 Reston Ave, Herndon.

In addition to the traditional door-to-door food drive on Nov. 4, there is an option for online donations. Online donations of food can be arranged through YouGiveGoods.com at this link:

https://yougivegoods.com/powhatandistrict-scoutingforfood2023