Welcome to Wellesley Scouting for Food 2016

 

October 29, 2016 is door hanger distribution

November 5, 2016 (9:00am - 1:00pm) is donation pick-up

All donations must be delivered to the Food Pantry by 1:30pm

 

 

2016 Route Assignments

 

 

Sign-Up to Volunteer

 

 

Email SFF Town Coordinators    |    2016 Flyer Listing Food Needs    |    Food Pantry Website

 

 

Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQs):

For everyone:

For those being asked to donate food:

For Scouts and Scouting leadership:

 

 

What is Scouting for Food?

Since 1986, Wellesley Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Venture Crews and Girl Scouts have participated in Scouting's National Good Turn - the Scouting for Food program. Our Scouts join three million other Scouts nationwide to collect food to feed the hungry. All the food we collect goes to the Wellesley Food Pantry to help feed those in our community who rely on the Food Pantry, currently over 215 Wellesley families (more than 465 individuals, including 147 children). As the Scouting for Food drive is the single biggest source of donated food to the Food Pantry each year, we need everyone in the community to help! We thank you all in advance for your generosity, both to those donating food and those making sure it gets to the Food Pantry.

How does Scouting for Food work?

Scouts distribute door hangers and flyers to Wellesley houses on Saturday, October 29th. The flyer will have a list of items that the Food Pantry particularly needs and the donation pick-up date and time. Scouts will return to pick-up the donations on Saturday, November 5th.

When is Scouting for Food?

Door hanger drop-off is Saturday, October 29, 2016. Donation pick up is Saturday, November 5, 2016 from 9:00am - 1:00pm. Scouts must deliver all of their collected donations to the Food Pantry by 1:30pm.

What does the Wellesley Food Pantry need? What should we avoid?

Every year, the Food Pantry makes a list of specific foods and supplies that are needed in greatest demand and this list is printed on a flyer that will be attached to the door hanger. The Food Pantry CANNOT ACCEPT expired food, glass containers, perishables or Halloween candy.

If a Scout has left a door hanger at my house, when should I put out my donation and where should I put it?

Please bag your donation and leave it in a place which is visible from the street before 9:00am on Saturday, November 5th. The Scout who left the door hanger should return for pick-up between 9:00am - 1:00pm. The Scout will not ring your doorbell, nor enter your house.

What should I do if no one has picked-up my donation?

Please call the phone number that the Scout has hopefully written on your door hanger and remind him/her to pick it up. You can also drop your donation at Roche Brothers or Whole Foods in the Food Pantry box located near the checkout area. You can also bring your donation to the Food Pantry (207 Washington St.) on Monday morning between 9:00 - 11:00am.

Who is the Scouting for Food Town Coordinator and what do they do?

Rula Salameh and Amy Fuller Boyd are the 2016 coordinators. You can email them at wellesleyscoutingforfood@gmail.com.

These SFF Town Coordinators:

  1. Assign specific blocks of routes to each of the Wellesley Scouting Groups (Cub Scout Packs, Boy Scout Troops, Venture Crews and Girl Scouts) by early/mid October.
  2. Post any unassigned routes on the Troop 185 website by mid October and ask for volunteers to cover additional routes.
  3. Give door hangers to each Scouting for Food Coordinator before October 22nd.

The SFF Town Coordinators try to give elementary age Scouts routes near their homes. Older Scouts will not necessarily be given home territory. No Scout is guaranteed to get the route on which his or her house is located.

What does the Scouting group leader do?

By the end of September (as soon as possible), each Scouting Group leader should email wellesleyscoutingforfood@gmail.com:

  1. The name(s) and email address(es) of their Scouting for Food Coordinators.
  2. The number of routes their group would like to cover.

What do the Scouting for Food Coordinators for each Scouting group do?

  1. After receiving the block of specific routes from the SFF Town Coordinators, match Scouts to routes, taking care to give youngest Scouts the routes which are nearest their homes.
  2. Encourage Scouts to volunteer for more routes, particularly if additional scouts have joined the group. Send specific route requests to wellesleyscoutingforfood@gmail.com by October 7th.
  3. By the weekend of October 22-23, download the flyer and make copies for every house in the block of routes.
  4. By the weekend of October 22-23, give each Scout his/her allotment of door hangers and flyers. Remind the Scouts to put their first names and phone numbers on each flyer.
  5. By the weekend of October 22-23, make sure that each scout has a copy of his/her route(s), which are also downloadable from the Wellesley Pantry website.

How are houses assigned?

Wellesley has been divided into 376 routes of roughly 20 houses each. A page for each specific route will be downloadable from the Wellesley Food Pantry website in mid October. Each route page contains a list of houses on that route and a map of their locations. Routes, rather than territories, are the basis for assigning houses to scouts, making the yearly allocation of houses much more flexible.

How many houses will each Scout visit?

Each elementary school Scout will be responsible for 10-20 houses. Older Scouts will be given one, or possibly two, routes. If routes are still unassigned, Scouts will be asked to volunteer for those remaining routes. Our goal is to have Scouts visit every house in town.

How can Scouts download their route(s)?

After blocks of routes have been assigned, the list of routes will be posted on this website. Next to each route will be an indication of which Scouting group is responsible for covering it. A downloadable (pdf) page for each route will also be available, which will include:

  1. a listing of the specific houses by street address
  2. locations of those houses (with respect to cross streets)
  3. an appropriate section of the Wellesley zoning map with each house on the route labeled.

Unassigned routes (if any) will also be posted so that Scouts may volunteer for specific additional routes.

How can Scouts get a copy of the Food Pantry flyer?

The 2016 flyer can easily be downloaded and printed.

What does the Scout do before dropping off the donations?

  1. Makes sure he/she has a door hanger and a flyer for each house on his/her route(s).
  2. Downloads a map of his/her route(s) if the Scouting for Food Coordinator has not given him one.
  3. Writes his/her phone number and first name (only) on the flyer.

Do Scouts deliver door hangers to apartments, condos or commercial buildings?

No, Scouts only go to single family residences.

Any tips for dropping-off door hangers?

Make sure that the door hanger and flyer is placed in a secure location - inside a screen door, attached to the door handle is best. Scouts should not ring doorbells nor should they go inside buildings. Scouts are also not allowed to put the door hangers and flyers into mailboxes or through mail slots.

Where should Scouts take the donations?

Donations should be delivered to the Food Pantry at the Wellesley Congregational Church at 207 Washington St. (Route 16 near Route 9) no later than 1:30pm. Scouts dropping-off food should either get in line along the curb outside the Food Pantry entrance, where there will be volunteers available to help unload cars OR plan to park in the Congregational Church parking lot to the left and carry the food into the Food Pantry. Donations which are unable to be delivered to the Food Pantry by 1:30pm should be taken to Roche Brothers and put in the Food Pantry box located near the checkout area, or brought to the Food Pantry (207 Washington St.) on Monday morning between 9:00 - 11:00am.

What time should Scouts pick-up the donations and when should they deliver them to the Food Pantry?

Scouts should pick-up donations between 9:00am - 1:00pm on Saturday, November 5th. The earlier a Scout is able to get donations to the Food Pantry, the better.

Please do not drop-off donations at the Pantry after 1:30pm, as the sorting volunteers will have left by then. There are volunteers who will be working later at the Food Pantry on November 5th, but they will only be doing final sorting and clean up.

Scouts should also not pick-up donations before 9:00am. If they do, some donations on their route(s) will probably be missed.

Please note, although the instructions on the flyer ask that people not donate food in glass jars, there are often glass containers in the donations.  Scouts should be careful with donation bags so any glass inside does not break.

What should a Scout do if unable to drop-off and/or pick-up his/her assigned route?

It is very important that each Scout pick-up at every house where he/she dropped-off a door hanger. In past years, we have had streets where nobody came to pick-up the donations. This does not help the Food Pantry, and it doesn't help the Scout image.

It is the Scout's responsibility to find someone to help if he/she is unable to drop-off the door hangers and/or pick-up the donations. It is permissible for two (or more) Scouts to work together to cover all the houses on their routes. Sometimes one Scout has dropped-off the door hangers and another Scout has picked-up the donations. Sometimes Scouts do multiple routes as a group. As long as all houses are covered, Scouting for Food Coordinators can choose whatever method of dropping-off and picking-up that works best for their groups!

Last updated Sept 2016 AFB