Boy Scouts of America hold 32nd annual Scouting for Food drive

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — Feeding as many people as possible, one bag of food at a time - that was the mission for thousands of members of the Narragansett Council of the Boy Scouts of America for the 32nd annual "Scouting for Food" drive on Saturday.

Boy scouts descended on neighborhoods in the area to collect food donations and bring them to local food banks, like the Rhode Island Community Food Bank in Providence.

Allen Lebron Lopes has been a scout member for the past two years and looks forward to the event.

“It’s fun, just running across all the houses and collecting all of the bags full of food,” said Lopes.

For Boy Scout Ethan Quinn, the event is about working together to help as many people as possible.

“If you collect this amount of food, imagine how many people it could feed," he said.

CEO of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank Andrew Schiff told NBC 10 News the “Scouting for Food” drive has become their biggest drives of the year.

“The total will be over 200,000 pounds of food collected in one day," said Schiff. "That’s a big thing, and it’s really important for us because this food drive is happening right before the holidays.”

He explained the need for food increases during the holiday season, not just because of the holidays, but also because it gets colder outside and families are often forced to decide whether to put food on the table or pay the heating bill.

The food collected will help the Rhode Island Community Food Bank serve over 50 thousand Rhode Islanders in the coming months.

COO of the Narragansett Council Boy Scouts of America, Tiffany Bumgardner-Scheffler, said this event teaches the boys lessons they may never learn otherwise.

“This is what we do in scouting, we teach these kids to be grateful for what you have, but also want you to get out there and help your community and help others in need.”

They’ve collected more than 9 million pounds of food at the drive over the past 30 years which has helped tens of thousands of people fill their tables during the holiday season.