SCOUTING FOR FOOD
A Council-wide Service Project in April 2025 Serving Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky
Sponsored By
Dan Beard Council & Freestore Foodbank are Scouting for Food!
Help other people at all times. It’s not enough to recite those words from the Scout Oath. We are called to put them into action. In that spirit, the Dan Beard Council partnered with the Freestore Foodbank to launch Scouting for Food, a Council-wide service project that collected food for those in need across the Dan Beard Council service area in the spring of 2025.
Answering this call for help could not be more urgent. According to the Freestore Foodbank, one in seven of our neighbors in the Tri-State area is at risk of hunger.
“During this time of unparalleled need in our community, it is wonderful to see new partnerships emerge to join Freestore Foodbank in the fight to create a hunger-free, healthy and thriving community,” said Kurt Reiber, president and CEO of the Freestore Foodbank. “We want to thank the Dan Beard Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the Scouts and their leaders for collaborating with our team on their inaugural Scouting for Food event.”
Please support Scouting For Food, a community-wide food drive conducted by the Dan Beard Council, BSA. Your direct donation to the Freestore Foodbank will help continue our mission of feeding the community’s hungry during this unsettling time. $5 could buy 15 cans of soup. $10 could buy 14 boxes of oatmeal. $25 could buy 17 5-oz cans of tuna. $50 could buy 100 boxes of whole grain pasta. $100 could buy 80 18-oz jars of peanut butter.
Individuals can contribute virtually to Scouting for Food by texting SCOUT4FOOD to (833) 709-0969 or click the button below:
How does Scouting for Food Work?
On Saturday, April 26, 2025, Packs, Troops and Posts will fan out across their local neighborhoods, circulating flyers asking for non-perishable food donations.
On the following Saturday, May 3, 2025, units will return to the homes where flyers were placed to collect the donations, which then will be dropped off at food pantries and Freestore Foodbank affiliated agencies in the units’ home district.
District Coordinators
East Fork: Lisa Davis
Fort Ancient: AJ King
Fort Hamilton: Scott Sutmiller
Little Miami: Rob Warfel
Trailblazer: Stefan Loveridge
Queen City: Mark Newman
Whitewater: Luanne Thorman
How Can You Help
1.) I RECEIVED A FLYER:
If you received a flyer in your neighborhood, place your donations out on November 13, 2021 and local Scouts will be around to collect them.
2.) I’D LOVE TO HELP, BUT I DIDN’T RECEIVE A FLYER IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD:
Yes, you can definitely still help to support the cause. One easy way to support is by making a donation to the Virtual Food Drive to support the cause. Or, you can help by dropping off your donation at one of the event drop-off sites (below) around the community.
Local Drop-Off Locations
If you didn’t receive a flyer in your neighborhood from a Scout who is coming around to collect, but you’d still like to support the effort, you can also drop-off your donation at one of these convenient drop-off locations:
CENTRAL
- Madisonville Education and
Assistance Center (MEAC)
4600 Erie Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45227 (Madsonville) - Food Distribution Center – L.I.F.E. Food Pantry
101 S. Lebanon Rd., Loveland Oh 45140 - Inter Parish Ministry (IPM)
3509 Debolt Road, Newtown, OH 45244 - Blue Ash Municipal Building
(TRUCK LOCATION)
4343 Cooper Road, Cincinnati, OH 45242 - Valley Interfaith Community Resource Center
420 West Wyoming Avenue, Wyoming Oh 45215
WEST
- My Neighbors
(Westwood United Methodist Church)
3460 Epworth Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45211 - Anderson Ferry Church of Christ Food Pantry
380 Greenwell Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45238 - Whitewater Crossing Food Pantry
5771 OH-128, Cleves, OH 45002
NORTH
- Shared Harvest Foodbank
5901 Dixie Hwy, Fairfield, OH 45014 - Encounter Life Church
310 West Cresentville Rd., West Chester 45069 - Serve City
622 East Avenue, Hamilton OH 45011 - TOPSS (Talawanda Oxford Pantry
& Social Services)
5445 College Corner Pike, Oxford, OH 45056 - Mason Food Pantry
406 4th Avenue, Mason, OH 45040 - Springboro Community Assistance
Center (SCAC)
1629 S. Main Street, Springboro, OH 45066 - Franklin Area Community Services (FACS)
345 South Main St., Franklin, OH 45005 - Little Miami Food Service
4766 Whitacre Dr., Morrow 45152
EAST
- Food Distribution Center – Mount Orab UMC Food Pantry
212 Church Street, Mt. Orab, OH 45154 - Access Church
1300 OH–125, Amelia, OH 45102 - Food Distribution Center – Helping Hands In Christian Service
688 Camp Run Rd., Georgtown, OH 45121
SOUTH
- Be Concerned
1100 W Pike St, Covington, KY 41011 - CARE Mission
11093 Alexandria Pike, Alexandria, KY 41001 - Action Ministries, Inc.
4375 Boron Dr., Covington, KY 41015 - Generations Church
4161 Richardson Rd, Independence, KY 41051
SCOUT UNIT PARTICIPATION INFORMATION
Share Your Scouting for Food Photos & Videos with Us!
Scouts collected food in massive amounts across Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky on Saturday, November 12, 2022! Submit photos and short videos of Scouts and volunteers in action collecting food and dropping off food at local participating food pantries to show the community how Scouts are helping to fight hunger locally! We will be sharing YOUR community service photos on social media and other marketing areas that day!
Here’s a few ways you can submit your photos and videos:
Microsoft OneDrive
Click Here to Submit Content
Instructions:
- Click on the link to open One Drive. (You can open in the browser or the app.)
- At the top of the window in browser, you will see three horizontal dots (…). Click the dots for drop down menu.
- Select the option for “Upload”.
- Select Files.
- Choose Photo Library.
- Select your Scouting for Food videos and images by clicking on them. Make sure the image shows a blue check mark.
- Click Add.
Google Photo Album
Click Here to Submit Content
Instructions:
- Click on the link to open Google Album from phone or computer.
- Click “Add Photos”
- Select the photos and videos you would like to upload.
- Click Add.
Email
Click Here to Email
(Small amount of photos only – no videos)
Instructions:
- Click on the link above to open an email to julie.whitaker@scouting.org.
- Please email a small amount of photos only (under 10). For videos, please use the other two options due to file size.
Scouting for Food Flyers for Participating Units
Flyers are now available for units to pick up at the Scout Achievement Center (10078 Reading Road, Cincinnati, OH 45241) OR from your district’s Scouting For Food Coordinator if you’ve made arrangements for pick-up in your district.
Scouting For Food district coordinators:
- BLUE JACKET DISTRICT | Rob Warfel: rwarfel@hotmail.com
- FORT HAMILTON DISTRICT | Chrissy Lear: clear3137@gmail.com
- HOPEWELL DISTRICT | Kevin Owen: kevin@owenlink.com
- MAKETWA DISTRICT | Beryl Love: bwlove@mac.com
- TRAILBLAZER DISTRICT | Stefan Loveridge: stefan.loveridge@gmail.com
- US GRANT DISTRICT | Lisa Davis: ldavis@clermontdd.org
- WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON DISTRICT | Luanne Thorman: luanne.thorman@gmail.com
NOTE: Please determine how many flyers you need based on your unit’s size and the number of homes you plan on distributing to. Our rule of thumb: 25 flyers per Cub Scout; 35-40 per Scout 11 and older and adult Scouters.
Scouting for Food FAQ for Participating Units
A: We are asking units to cover as many houses as they are able to with the number of Scouts they have available. (The rule of thumb is 25 homes for Cub Scouts and 35 for Scouts older than 11 and adult leaders.) You determine how big of an area to cover, and it’s not necessary to hit every home in a neighborhood. The important thing is that you return to the homes where flyers were distributed to collect food. We don’t want to leave food sitting on the doorstep!
A: No. The flyers should be placed in the screen door, partially under a welcome mat or rolled up and inserted into a door handle. The flyers will explain in detail how people can Support Scouting for Food. (A sample of the flyer will be uploaded soon.)
A: Absolutely! Be creative! In addition to collecting food from homes in our community, we encourage you to enlist the help of your charter organization. For example, if you are chartered by a church, invite the congregation to collect food the Sunday prior to Scouting for Food and include those donations with the food you to take to your district drop-off site. Not only will this increase collections, it also will engages our charter organizations in a meaningful way that lets them see our Scouts giving back to the community.
We will have at least two drop-off sites in each district. Units will be assigned a drop-off location by their Scouting for Food district lead. Residents will be asked via the flyer to have their donations ready for pickup by 9 a.m. Saturday morning (April 20th). Drop-off locations will be staffed and ready for your collected donations from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Volunteer for Scouting for Food
Scouting for Food, first launched by the Greater St. Louis Area Council in 1985, has been adopted by Councils across the country. Longtime Scouters in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky will recall a similar service project in Dan Beard Council, the United Food and Clothing Drive held in the 1980’s.
“It’s exciting that we are mobilizing on a Council-wide service project that truly exemplifies one of the key tenets of Scouting – service to others,” said Beryl Love, Scouting for Food chair and editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “My hope is that each and every unit will step forward so we can have the greatest impact possible.”
Beryl Love, Scouting for Food Chair and Editor of Cincinnati Enquirer, is seeking volunteers from each district to serve on the Scouting for Food committee. If interested, please email him at bwlove@mac.com.
Media
Scouting for Food Photos
Scouting for Food Videos
Scouting for Food Resources
Thank You to Our Sponsored Partners
Questions? Please reach out to Travis McCormick at Travis.McCormick@scouting.org.