By: David Ibata

More than a dozen Boy Scout units in three counties of northwest Georgia participated in Scouting for Food on Feb. 11, generating in excess of 4,300 pounds of donated canned goods and other food stuffs for the Rome Corps.

Scouts in Floyd, Polk and Chattooga counties, contributing to the Army for the first time this year, brought donations to the Samaritan's Purse Food Pantry in Cedartown, the Rockmart First United Methodist Church Food Pantry in Rockmart and the Family and Children Services in Summerville, the Rome News-Tribune reported.

Members of the Rome Rotary Club helped sort the food collected during the campaign. The donations will go toward The Salvation Army's monthly food assistance program, which delivers groceries to about 50 families in the Rome area. Each family has been interviewed by a caseworker who considers their finances in making an assessment of need.

"We provide families with over 60 pounds of groceries each month," Captain Jason Smith of the Rome Corps told the News-Tribune. "The Can-a-Thon (see the Dec. 15 Southern Spirit) is great here, but we can always use food drives like this."

The Scouts started on Feb. 4 by placing door hangers in their communities. They returned the following Saturday to collect food. Then, they spent a couple of hours at The Salvation Army receiving donations from people who drove in to drop off donations.

In past years, between 3,000 and 4,000 pounds of food have been gathered for the annual effort, Scouting for Food coordinator Mary Hardin Thornton said.

"This has already become a fantastic relationship," said Jeff Brasher, executive with the Northwest Georgia Council of Boy Scouts of America.