The following announcement was provided by Watertown Scout Troop 30:
Scouts from Troop 30 and Pack 30 combined forces Saturday to collect two-and-half tons of food for the Watertown Food Pantry.
In normal times, the Troop (BSA scouts age 10-17) and the Pack (Cub Scouts age 5-10) would solicit donations from customers at Stop & Shop as part of an initiative called Scouting for Food.
This year, to keep contact at a minimum and taking Coronavirus precautions, Cub Scouts held a contest to see who could collect the greatest number of donations from neighbors. Cubs flyered their neighborhoods asking for help, and Watertown responded: Cubs collected carloads of groceries totaling 4,941 pounds.
The Cub Scout with the heaviest donation, Nathaniel Dourian of Bear Den 8, collected 670 pounds of peanut butter, pasta, canned beans and other groceries, but he wasn’t alone. Other Cub Scouts gathered 200 or 300 pounds of groceries delivered Saturday to the food pantry.
Other neighbors came and dropped off donations of their own. Dozens of bags of canned chickpeas, coffee, tea and tomato sauce were followed by carloads of jarred soups, jams and jellies, treats like Fluff and Jello, and of course that difficult-to-find commodity of 2020, toilet paper.
Troop 30 scouts, armed with food pantry bins and hand sanitizer, sorted the items on the lawn of 80 Mt. Auburn Street, the Watertown-Belmont UMC building that hosts both the scouts and the Watertown Food Pantry. Donations are distributed Tuesdays at 80 Mt. Auburn Street.
The need remains for families in Watertown as many are out of work due to the current Coronavirus pandemic. For services and information on how to support our community, find the Watertown Food Pantry on the town website.