EDITORIAL

Small deeds, big consequences

Posted 11/12/15

A central tenant of the Boy Scout Oath, pledged by thousands of Rhode Island boys and young men, is “to help other people at all times.” And for the last 28 years, the Boy Scouts of Narragansett …

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EDITORIAL

Small deeds, big consequences

Posted

A central tenant of the Boy Scout Oath, pledged by thousands of Rhode Island boys and young men, is “to help other people at all times.” And for the last 28 years, the Boy Scouts of Narragansett Council have gone far beyond the slogan of “Do a good turn daily” in helping to feed the state’s most needy.

While most good turns Scouts perform, such as helping someone cross the street or welcoming a new student to school, are small, some are big. Few are bigger than the yearly Scouting for Food drive benefiting the Rhode Island Community Food Bank.

Since the inception of Scouting for Food in 1988, Rhode Island Scouts have collected more than eight million pounds of food through the program. While it may never be known exactly how many meals were created, or how many people have been assisted, what is certain is that the community benefits provided by the drive far outnumber the total amount of cans ever collected.

Events like this one may be a young boy’s first experience with volunteering, and provide a framework for lifelong community involvement. After weeks of intense planning, including charting routes for individual scouts to cover, dropping off informational door hangers to neighbors, establishing ways to pick up donated items the following week, sorting donations for quality, coordinating drop offs and pickups with the Rhode Island Nation Guard, the logistical lessons learned by these young men are invaluable.

The fun experienced by scouts during the event also cannot be underestimated. The excitement of pick up day- where scouts follow an adult volunteer’s car or pick up truck along their route to collect donations, finding a generous home that donated with abundance, or playfully competing with fellow scouts to see who collected the most-provides a camaraderie difficult to find elsewhere, and memories even more difficult to forget.

Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of the drive is that it teaches scouts, no matter what their own background may be, that it only takes a small gesture to make a huge improvement in the lives of others, and that they can make a difference.

This year, scouts collected nearly 200,000 pounds of food, which will be distributed 170 different agencies throughout the state, including food pantries, community agencies and churches. We applaud them for their outstanding efforts.

While the drive may be finished, it never really ends. If by chance the scouts missed your home, donations may be made at the Community Food Bank at 200 Niantic Ave, Providence, or the West Bay Scout Shop at 1276 Bald Hill Road in Warwick, where the opportunity to do a good turn still exists.

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