ABOVE: Martin Laue holds two boxes of macaroni during last year’s Scouting for Food event. Submitted photo.

FAIRMONT – In line with a national tradition, Fairmont’s Cub Scouts Pack 57 are Scouting for Food to benefit local food shelter Heaven’s Table.

Scouting Twin Valley District Executive Rebbeca Sandquist said this is the Scouts’ largest annual community service project. Notes are taped on homes in town letting people know, and they can prepare boxes or bags of food or send money to the QR code.

“Five dollars would equal 60 pounds of food for the food bank,” she said.

This year the notes will be taped up Monday through Wednesday depending on family availability, as Saturday was too windy and cold. Each scout family takes a specific part of town to split up the work. The scouts will come Saturday starting at 9 a.m. and pick up the food. Food must be non-perishable and not expired.

Scouting Twin Valley Field Director Erik Karre said the QR code came about during COVID, as March 2020 shut everything down including Scouting for Food.

“Because we know how important it was, we transitioned to online giving that year,” he said. “We worked with each community and let them reach out to people who could give money, and the money was given to the food shelves.”

Giving money also hands food shelves a different advantage from food donations, as it gives them the opportunity to purchase the food they need. Given it’s a newer technology, Karre said he understands the apprehension but assures people it is safe.

“This wasn’t some kid printing these out,” he said. “The central offices printed 50,000 of these out for all of the chapters in southern Minnesota.”

For Interim Pack 57 Cub Master Melissa Walders, Scouting for Food is a chance for her pack to showcase its growth. They’ve begun to emerge from the post-COVID attendance shrink and have grown to 14 members grades K- to 5. Walders said parents are excited for their kids to participate in Scouting for Food.

“To be able to have a program that teaches their kids about giving back and service to the community,” she said. “That’s a big thing about being a scout. Learning those skills and getting that confidence to be members of their community is important.”

In addition to the lessons they learn, it’s meant to be good fun.

“We always say it’s fun with a purpose and purpose that’s fun,” Walders said. “The kids have a blast going out, going door to door, and spotting like, ‘Hey, there’s a bag. There’s a bag there. These people left a donation.’ Getting them excited.”

Looking forward, Walders said she would like to see continued gradual growth for Fairmont’s scouting efforts.

“It’s better to gradually increase,” she said. “It makes it easier because this is all volunteer run. Working together to keep the program running, keeping it fun for the kids, and sharing the tasks so it’s not all on one person to plan everything for the pack. If we can continue, we hope to have more events for the community.”

For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/Pack57FairmontMN/ or email melissa.walders@gmail.com.