Mecklenburg Boy Scouts collecting donated food Saturday for Loaves & Fishes

One of the community’s largest annual food drives for people in need will be staged Saturday, when Mecklenburg County’s Boy Scouts plan to go home to home, collecting non-perishable food items for Loaves & Fishes pantries.

Last year, Scouting for Food collected a record 280,000 pounds of food, which was enough to stock local pantry shelves for several months. The pantries serve low income and elderly people who have proven they would go hungry if not provided free groceries.

Loaves & Fishes gave a week’s worth of groceries to over 67,500 people in Mecklenburg County last year, 48 percent of whom were children.

Priority needs include canned meat, canned fruit, canned pastas, corn muffin mix, powdered milk, cereal and 100 percent fruit juice.

There are multiple ways to participate.

• Simply fill the bags with non-perishable food items and leave outside your home for pick up by Scouts on Saturday, Feb. 4th. (Harris Teeter bags were distributed last weekend to neighborhoods where they plan to pick up donations.)
• Visit Harris Teeters Feb. 4 through February 12 and place food in collection barrels throughout all Mecklenburg County Harris Teeter stores.
• Drop off food donations at tractor trailers located at the following sites from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Feb. 4, or 12:30 p.m. 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 5.

Ada Jenkins Center, 212 Gamble St., Davidson.

Arboretum Shopping Center, Providence Rd. & Highway 51, Charlotte.

Charlotte Bethel Presbyterian Church, 19920 Bethel Church Road, Charlotte.

Cornelius Huntersville United Methodist Church, 14005 Stumptown Road, Huntersville.

Mulberry Presbyterian Church, 5600 Tuckaseegee Road, Charlotte.

Charlotte Philadelphia Presbyterian Church, 11501 Bain School Road, Mint Hill.

Sharon Presbyerian Church, 5201 Sharon Road, Charlotte.

Town Center Plaza, 8600 University City Boulevard, Charlotte.

Trinity Presbyterian Church, 3115 Providence Road, Charlotte.

Scouting for Food is sponsored by Mecklenburg County Council of The Boy Scouts of America, Harris Teeter, NBC Charlotte, The New 103.7 WSOC, and Stegall Trucking.

This story was originally published February 1, 2017 at 2:18 PM with the headline "Mecklenburg Boy Scouts collecting donated food Saturday for Loaves & Fishes."