Allentown, PA - The Allentown Rescue Mission hosted the Boy Scouts of America-Minsi Trails Council press conference Thursday for the kick-off to the 2012 Scouting For Food community food drive.  Scouting For Food is the largest single-day food drive in the area and the Boy Scouts’ largest local service project. The Allentown Rescue Mission is among local organizations and food banks that receive the food donations collected by the Boy Scouts.

“The Allentown Rescue Mission depends on private support, not government grants, to run its programs and services that help homeless people in the Lehigh Valley,” said Gary Millspaugh, Allentown Rescue Mission Executive Director.  “The support and hard work of our local Boy Scouts provides much-needed food for the clients we will serve this winter and beyond.”

WFMZ-TV weather personality and Scouting For Food chairperson Kathy Craine led the press conference. She explained that the local Scouts distributed door-hangers on Saturday, November 3^rd with information on the food drive. Residents who received the door hangers are asked to leave the non-perishable food donation on their doorstep for the Scouts to collect on Saturday, November 10^th.  The public is able to drop-off food donations at several area businesses. You can find the details at www.scouting4food.com.

Local troops decide which organizations will receive collected donations. Scouts are encouraged to donate an increased amount of food to the Allentown Rescue Mission this year. The Allentown Rescue Mission distributes food to its homeless clients and local food banks free of charge.  

“We highly value our relationship with the Boy Scouts,” said Millspaugh. “The Boy Scouts program helps young people develop self-confidence and leadership skills that are essential to being successful, productive and self-sufficient adults. We are teaching those same values to our homeless clients at the Mission.”

This is not the first time the Allentown Rescue Mission and the Boy Scouts of America-Minsi Trails Council have worked together. The Rescue Mission has benefitted from the Scouting For Food community food drive in previous years. The Mission is also a site chosen by several Eagle Scouts to conduct service projects, which have been regarded as both impressive and valuable to Mission programs and services that help homeless people.

 About the Allentown Rescue Mission

For more than 100 years, the Mission has been a place where men have begun to experience restoration with God, their families and their communities. The Mission’s goal for each man is self-sufficiency. Its programs aim to end homelessness one person at a time and in some cases, prevent it. They include: the Gateway Center (emergency shelter), the Christian Living and Values Program (life skills and transitional living), the Clean Team (workforce development/jobs program) and housing.  Last year, the Mission spent more than $2.5 million on programs, jobs and housing for homeless men. Additional information is located at www.allentownrescuemission.org.