Submitted photo Above is Pack 316 in 2008 with collected food from the first Scouting for Food Drive. 

Local Scouts in the Thomasville area will be conducting the annual Scouting for Food Drive on Jan. 28 and Feb. 4.   

This year’s drive will be the 10th drive since it was brought back to Thomasville in 2008. This year, the Scouts are aiming to repeat last year’s record breaking total of 6,371 pounds collected.

In 2008, Cub Scout Pack 316 held the first drive in Thomasville and brought in 2,232 pounds and visited 678 homes. Over the years, more Boy Scout packs, troops and Girl Scouts from the area have joined in to help. Over the past nine years, Scouts have brought in over 48,000 pounds of food, which has been donated to the Thomas County Food Bank. Currently, there are three area Boy Scout groups participating and set to visit over 2,500 homes. 

During the past nine years of food drives, many neighborhoods have outdone themselves and become what the Scouts call the “Most Generous Neighborhood.” 

In 2008, the Gordon Avenue, Millpond and Polo Ground area averaged 5.85 pounds per household. In other years, it has been the Puzzle Lake/Magnolia Pond area or Shallowbrook Farms. Reigning champ of the “Most Generous Neighborhood” for the past three years has been Holly Springs, with last year’s average of 7.69 pounds per household. 

Janice Anderson, director of The Thomas County Food Band and Outreach Center, said the center distributes over 5,500 pounds of food per week. In 2016, the center served over 32,000 people and 11,000 homes. Of these people, 10 percent were over 65 years old, 55 percent were 19 to 64, and 35 percent were under 18 years old.  

On Jan. 28, Cub Scouts from Packs 302, 309, and 316, along with Boy Scouts of Troops 302, 309, and 306 will be hanging food collection bags in area neighborhoods. On Feb. 4, they will go back to the neighborhoods to collect the food and turn it in to the food bank. The Scouts ask for you to keep an eye out for them and make a donation by filling your bag with food. Also, get with your neighbors and remind them of the “Most Generous Neighborhood” status and get them to contribute.    

Scouts will be collecting food in the following Thomasville and Thomas County neighborhoods which represent over 2,700 homes or households: Downtown Thomasville Historic Districts, Puzzle Lake, Magnolia Pond, Northwoods, Heards Ponds, Holly Springs, Pine Summit, Washington Street to Clay between Myrtle and Briarcliff, Sprindale Circle, Tuxedo Drive area, Prestwick, Turnberry, Gordon, Millpond, Blacksheer, Junius, Polo Grounds, A Place in The Woods, Polana, Pebble Creek, Tall Pines, Inwood Plantation, Ivy Hill, Mystic Pines, Spruce Pines, Spruce Lake Lane, Shallowbrook Farms, Mitchell Place, Summercreek, Covington Place, Lake Eagle, Lake Circle, East and West Club Drive, Fairways, Oak Trace, Kings Forest, Glen Arven, Sandra, Deveraux, Hollywood, Wimbleton, High Colony, Tuckwal, Claire, Fontaine, Strong, Partridge, Maury, Roundcrest, Palmetto, Myrtle, Tall Timbers Road and White Blossom Trail, Sweetbrier, Jordon Oaks, Lilliquin Drive, Lake Trace, and Cherokee Circle.  

If your are not in one of the neighborhoods covered by Scouts and want to donate to the drive, donations can be made at Sweet Grass Dairy Cheese Shop in downtown Thomasville, were a donation box will be open Jan. 26 to Feb. 4.