Troops rally to combat hunger in northern Utah

Intermountain Catholic

Photo 1 of 2

Boy Scouts and Army National Guard members sort donations at Joyce Hansen Hall Food Bank on March 22. IC photo/Marie Mischel

OGDEN — As the trucks rolled into the Joyce Hansen Hall Food Bank on March 22, the forklift pulled off the pallets brimming with bags full of canned food, then dozens of uniformed men, women and boys reached into the bags to sort the donations so the items could be placed on the food pantry shelves.

The annual Scouting for Food drive is "my favorite day of the year," said Marcie Valdez, director of Catholic Community Services Northern Utah, which runs the Joyce Hansen Hall Food Bank in Ogden. "I’m just so overwhelmed by the support of our Boy Scout troops and our National Guard. It’s so great to watch the two groups come together and work side by side."

For the food drive, residents statewide were asked to leave bags of canned food outside their homes. Boy Scouts picked up the donations and delivered them to central locations, where they were crated, loaded onto trucks and taken to local food banks.

"Every community who supports this effort, the food stays in their local community," Valdez said.

In Ogden, Scouts from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints troops organized the food pick up, while Scouts from Catholic parishes helped sort the food once it arrived at the food bank, Valdez said.

"I think it’s a good way for the boys to give back to the community," said Chris Keller, Troop 191 leader and a Saint Mary parishioner. He has had members of his troop participate in Scouting for Food for five years. "It teaches them some lessons in giving and humility," he said, adding that some of the scouts’ families volunteer weekly at the food bank.

Helping the community is also why the National Guard has been involved with the Scouting for Food drive for 28 years, said Lt. Col. Hank McIntire, Utah National Guard public affairs officer.

The National Guard and the Boy Scouts are organizations "with similar values. We’re committed to serving the community and we love partnering with them on a number of different things. This is the main one that we work with them on," McIntire said. "It benefits the community at a basic level, so it’s important that we continue to be a part of it."

Statewide, about 100 Air and Army National Guard members participated in the drive, he added. "The soldiers and airmen were just thrilled to be a part of this. They see it as an extension of what they do in the serving the community in uniform."

"To me it’s the perfect example of how, when everybody does a little, we can do a lot," Valdez said. "You think about every person who put one bag of food on their doorstep, the thousands of troops across the state who went door to door, picking up all that food, and then what it looks like here at the end of the day at our location – it’s just remarkable."

From the Scouting for Food drive, the Joyce Hansen Hall food bank received 72,027 pounds of goods.

"The food that we collect from the food drives is about a third of what we give way," said Valdez, explaining that the pantry distributes about 200,000 pounds of food each month. "Between the Boy Scout food drive and the [May 10] mail carrier food drive, it will stock our shelves through the summer. It’s a critical drive for us. This time of year our shelves are starting to run low, looking bare from the holiday food drive and so this just gives us that extra boost that we need to get through the summer months."   

UPCOMING EVENT

At the annual Dream Builder’s Breakfast, Catholic Community Services will honor Bob Hunter, president and CEO of the United Way of Northern Utah, Weber County Commissioner Jan M. Zogmaister; Saint Joseph Elementary School; and Pamela Atkinson for their support.

The public is invited to attend the breakfast; all proceeds will support CCS programs in northern Utah.

WHAT: Dream Builder’s Breakfast

WHEN: April 2, 7:30-9:30 a.m.

WHERE: Summit Hotel & Conference Center, 247 24th St., Ogden

RSVP to Maresha Bosgieter, 801-428-1293 or mbosgieter@ccsutah.org