The SFF Front Yard Food Drive program has been approved by the Council as a modified food drive for our district, which consists of families putting out a bin to collect donations from neighbors and taking the collected donations to a food pantry.
Front yard food drives are safe as long as participants maintain social distancing and follow the guidelines provided by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Any unit in the National Pike District is encouraged to participate.
We’re asking all units in National Pike to pick a drop off date or range of dayss during May. We’re planning to wrap up this program by May 31, 2020.
Designate drop-off points. These should be in the front yards of Pack or Troop members who would be willing to be a drop-off point. Be sure to follow social distancing rules. Drop-off points will need to be coordinated within your Pack or Troop.
Unless you specified which local food pantry in Howard County you wish to donate to, you will have a food pantry assigned to you. This allows us to evenly distribute the food to the food pantries participating in this food drive.
Due to the current health crisis, the need for food has increased. There are fewer food pantries that have remained opened and many more people are experiencing food insecurity due to employment cutbacks and other challenges brought on by the health crisis. Front yard food drives provide a safe, contact-less way for neighbors to donate to food pantries.
Front Yard Food Drive is a safe, contact-less food drive which can be done as a unit but families can participate separately.
1. Designate a time period during which your unit wants to hold a front yard food drive (a day, a couple of days, a weekend, a week; you pick). You have until June 15 to hold your food drive.
2. Designate a couple of front yards in your SFF designated area where you’ve seen a lot of foot traffic.
3. Contact SFF at scoutingforfoodnpd@gmail.com to sign up.
4. Promote the food drive within your unit and neighborhood. Use your SFF sidewalk sign if you have some. No person-to-person contact, please!
5. Print one of the signs from the SFF website, and stick it on a big, sturdy container (may also want to have a cover in case of rain).
6. Put out the container in the designated front yard(s). Scouts should not stand by the container to receive donations. The idea is for a safe, contact-less activity.
7. Empty your bin out regularly and keep dry. Count the number of items you’ve received.
8. A food pantry will be assigned to you. Please contact your designated food pantry and make arrangements for delivery. Most will have contact-less drop off instructions.
9. Report back to us on how you did by emailing us at scoutingforfoodnpd@gmail.com.
Please note that this activity is intended to be done by individuals and not in a group. We must maintain social distancing and follow the guidelines provided by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Please let us know if you have any questions. All information can be found on the Scouting for Food website.