Scouting for Food Collects 158,282 Pounds of Food to Feed the Hungry

Milwaukee, Wis.-  Even Mother Nature couldn’t stop the Boy Scouts in the annual Scouting for Food Drive today.  Boy Scouts went door to door in Milwaukee, Waukesha and Racine counties today collecting food in an effort to help feed the hungry.  The Milwaukee County Boy Scouts collected 158,282  pounds of food for America’s Second Harvest of Wisconsin.  Last year, the Boy Scouts collected 153,668 pounds of food.  Since 1987, the Milwaukee County Boy Scouts have collected more than three million pounds of food for Second Harvest.

The food was boxed up at eight local collection points throughout southeastern Wisconsin and then volunteer drivers from Schneider National Trucking delivered the boxes to Second Harvest.  The food will be distributed to Milwaukee County food pantries, meal programs and shelters. This year’s effort is particularly important because the failing economy is forcing more people out of work and into food pantries for their next meal.  “Many emergency feeding programs are serving double the number of people they did just six months to one year ago,” said Bonnie Bellehumeur, president of America’s Second Harvest of Wisconsin. In the past six months, demand for food from Second Harvest is up 36%, however food donations are at a 10-year low. 

If the Boy Scouts didn’t make it to your house or if you would still like to contribute to the food drive, you can make a donation of nonperishable food items at your local Pick ‘n Save store through

April 5.  Please place your donation in the Boy Scout food drive barrel near the checkout. 

Scouting for food is sponsored by Pick ‘n Save, Schneider National Trucking, US Corrugated,

Waste Management, MATCO Distributors, Wisconsin Lift Truck, Don & Judy Christl Family Trust and Ned’s Pizza.

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235,000 people in eastern Wisconsin rely on food supplied by America’s Second Harvest of Wisconsin each year.  The food bank is the largest, private, non-profit distributor of food in the state. Second Harvest Food Bank distributes nearly 11 million pounds of food annually to 1,100 food pantries, meal programs and shelters throughout eastern Wisconsin.  Second Harvest Food Bank is affiliated with Feeding America, formerly named America’s Second Harvest, which is consistently ranked as one of the most efficient charities, out of the country’s 100 largest charities, by Forbes magazine.  Since 1982, America’s Second Harvest of Wisconsin has distributed more than 200 million pounds of food.  To learn more about hunger in Wisconsin, log onto www.secondharvestwi.org.