Scouts set record, but more food is needed for many holiday meals

Daniela Mohor

Monday, Nov. 19, 2001 | 8:16 a.m.

Henderson, 565-9578; Las Vegas, 524-2553

385-2662

369-4357, Ext. 229

Mike Miller, special projects director for the Boulder Dam Area Boy Scout Council, couldn't believe his eyes Saturday night when he saw the Salvation Army's food pantries go from almost empty to full.

Local scouts broke a record that day with their annual Scouting for Food effort, collecting 142 tons of dry food throughout the community. The food went to the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities and other local food banks.

"I find it hard to believe that we could get that much food," Miller said. "There was a lot of generous giving by residents here in the community. It was very heartwarming."

Like every November since 1988, thousands of Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts distributed grocery bags in Clark County neighborhoods last week and returned a few days later to collect them after residents had filled them with food.

The 14 percent increase in donations over the previous year, Miller said, may be due to the higher number of Scouts participating and to the community's heightened awareness of the need to help people locally.

At this time of need, the Scouting for Food effort is indeed a significant relief for local charities. Since the terrorist attacks, they have registered a drop in donations and an increase in the demand for services.

"That food will probably last until April," said Sumner Dodge, the food project coordinator at the Salvation Army." We have a lot of other food drives so hopefully we'll get enough food to get us through the summer. That's always our concern."

Despite the scouts' effort and the more than 100 other small food drives it is conducting, the Salvation Army is struggling to have enough fresh food to feed the homeless and needy families during the holiday season.

And it is not alone. Several other local charities haven't received enough turkeys or hams for thanksgiving dinner and will take donations until the last minute.

The Salvation Army in Las Vegas has enough turkeys to fill the 500 thanksgiving boxes it will give out and is now seeking to meet the demand for Christmas dinners, Dodge said.

But at the Henderson branch times are tougher. So far, the charity has been able to collect only 150 turkeys, hams or gift certificates to buy them for the more than 300 families it assists with goods to cook a thanksgiving dinner.

At Catholic Charities, 876 families have signed up for help and the group is still short by 300 turkeys.

HELP, too, may see the number of families it can help significantly drop.

Saturday, the organization sorted and bagged the items it collected through food drives at local schools, companies, and supermarkets in the past few weeks.

The items gathered by the end of the week allowed HELP to prepare 650 thanksgiving baskets. The organization hopes to receive more turkeys in the next few days, but the final number is unlikely to reach the 980 received last year.