A fresh dusting of snow on the ground did not stop local Boy Scouts from distributing bags door to door for the Scouting for Food program Saturday morning.

Scouting for Food is the largest food drive in the nation, and Boy Scout troops across the United States participate in the program. These Boy Scouts go through neighborhoods distributing plastic grocery bags. The following week, they go back to the houses to collect the bags then filled with food.

The food drive usually takes place the first two weeks in February, but due to winter weather, the Scouts had to postpone it for a week. Next Saturday local Scouts will collect bags from people’s porches.

When the Scouts go to each house, they don’t knock. They just leave a bag tied to each door. Residents can then take the bag and fill it with non-perishable food items. They then just have to leave it on their porch by 9 a.m. the following Saturday morning, and the Scouts will collect the bags. This year the Scouts will pick up the bags on Feb. 20.

Although Scouting for Food is a nationwide effort, all of the food collected by Boy Scout troops in Surry County will stay in the area. The items will be given to area food pantries such as Yokefellow Ministries or the Salvation Army.

Boy Scout troops are required to participate in the drive as part of the 100-year anniversary of Boy Scouts of America. The 35 Boy Scout and Cub Scout troops in Surry County participated in the drive over the weekend.

Boy Scout Troop 538 and Cub Scouts of First Baptist Church in Mount Airy split into five groups to cover a five-mile radius on Saturday.

David Taylor, a leader with the troop, said, “In an economic time such as this, we have found that some of the areas that we go to are very needy. They are the most needy, and yet they give the most.”

Around 40 children and adults with the 538 troops participated in the distribution of bags. It took around two hours to distribute the bags, as they covered a distance from Old Springs Road to as far south as Westfield Road. Each group of boys sent out had at least one adult there to chaperone.

Before going out, adults lectured the boys on how to tie bags to doors and how to be safe in the cold and on slick streets. One dad spoke up and said, “And no snow balls,” which produced groans from the boys.

Boy Scout Troop 538 is the oldest continuous troop in the Dogwood District. The troop was founded in 1927. Taylor said across the nation the Boy Scout organization is not seeing growth like it used to.

“But our area still has a positive growth rate,” he said proudly.

More than 3,000 local Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts from the Old Hickory Council of northwest North Carolina participated in the food drive. Their goal for this year’s Scouting for Food event is to collect 100,000 pounds of food by Feb. 20 in honor of the 100th anniversary of Boy Scouts.

During the past 20 years, Scouts from northwest North Carolina have collected more than 825,000 pounds of food. After food is collected on Feb. 20, Scouts will deliver the food to local agencies.

“Scouting for Food is part of the Boy Scouts of America’s 100th anniversary celebration,” Steve Wilburn, executive director of the Old Hickory Council, said in a press release. “Service to our community is a vital part of scouting and it only seemed fitting that we set an aggressive goal that would celebrate our 100th anniversary by challenging members to collect 100,000 pounds and help more families than ever before.”

The Old Hickory Council of Boy Scouts encompasses Alleghany, Ashe, Forsyth, Stokes, Surry, Watauga, Wilkes and Yadkin counties. For more information about Scouting or how to join a local club, visit www.oldhickorycouncil.org.

Contact Meghann Evans at mevans@mtairynews.com or 719-1952.