Boy scouts, volunteers pack-up food for those in need

Cedar Rapids-It's the annual “Scouting for Food” weekend in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.  That means boy scouts spent the morning collecting food for local food banks across Eastern Iowa.  The need is up and scouts and volunteers hope they'll get the donations they need.

“Canned food, boxed food,” said Boy Scout Matt Rosauer.

Hawkeye Area Council Boy Scouts will take the sunny weekend to pick-up the food you left by your front door.  It's all a part of Scouting for Food.

“We really have our hopes up for this street,” said Rosauer.

Nine year old Matt Rosauer and Grant Wright do their best to get the food and put it in the van.  A van that's not as full as they had hoped.

“It's been down from last year we're only gotten a few bags,” said Hawkeye Area Council's Todd Rosauer.

Donations are down but needed.  This is the first stop on route to area food pantries and other organizations that help those in need.

“Right now more than ever there are people that need food and we're happy to provide that,” said Hawkeye Area Council District Executive John Myers.

Once the scouts collect the goods, they're taken here, one of the sorting sites where 300 volunteers are eager to help.

“Putting cans into boxes and sorting them from canned goods to dry goods and then putting the boxes on the belt,” said volunteer Lauren Lutgens.

16 year old Lauren Lutgens and others separate the items from soups, to noodles, to dog food.

“It just makes you feel good,” said Lutgens.

Boxes full of food to help families who've had to cut out so much in their already tight budgets.  The goal for this year's drive is to collect more than 85,000 pounds of food.   The food is shipped locally to places like HACAP and the Salvation Army.