Boy Scouts

Scouts to Go Door-to-Door for Food Drive Tomorrow

By Ethan Rothstein

Scouting for Food logoEven though trick-or-treating is over, you may still see some kids in costumes uniforms come to your door tomorrow, seeking food with bags in hand.

Saturday is the Boy Scouts’ annual “Scouting for Food” drive in the D.C. area, and Boy Scouts will be tying plastic bags to the doors of Arlington houses tomorrow. The following Saturday, Nov. 9, they will return to collect the bag, which they hope the residents will fill with nonperishable food items.

Last year, the drive collected 825,000 pounds of food, according to the National Capital Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

Once the bags are collected, the food collected in Arlington will be distributed by the Arlington Food Assistance Center. Boy Scouts will also be at Safeway grocery stores Nov. 9 encouraging shoppers to buy additional items to be donated to AFAC.

Boy Scouts Will be “Scouting for Food” on Saturday

By Katie Pyzyk

Boy Scouts will be hitting the streets on Saturday (November 10) for their annual “Scouting for Food” drive.

The scouts will stop at homes in a number of neighborhoods to collect food donations to benefit Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC). They will directly visit residents who received bags and fliers last week explaining the drive. Out of courtesy for residents, scouts don’t knock on doors; instead residents are asked to leave food donations in plain sight near their front doors, by 9:00 a.m. All donations are expected to be collected by noon.

Residents who didn’t receive a bag on their door will not be visited by the scouts. These residents can still participate, however, by taking food donations to the Cherrydale or Harrison Street Safeway stores.

Suggested foods for donation include pasta, peanut butter, breakfast food, tuna, soup, fruit and beans. AFAC and the scouts both ask that items in glass jars are not donated.

The goal is to exceed last year’s total of 60,000 pounds of donated food.

Right now, AFAC serves about 1,400 people each week, but that may increase as temperatures grow colder.

EXCLUSIVE: Authorities Investigate Flag Burnings

By ARLnow.com

Police and the Arlington Fire Marshal’s Office are investigating a series of flag burnings in the Williamsburg and East Falls Church neighborhoods of North Arlington.

A total of 27 decorative flags were burned overnight on a quiet couple of blocks between Quantico Street and Sycamore Street, near Bishop O’Connell High School and Tuckahoe Elementary, according to fire department spokesman Lt. Gregg Karl. Neighbors say the plastic flags were recently placed in yards by the Boy Scouts, an annual Flag Day tradition.

Investigators believe whoever burned the flags did so just before 5:30 a.m. The fires caused the plastic flags to melt onto plants, yards and walkways. No word on a motive, but one neighbor on 27th Street theorized that the vandal or vandals were trying to send a message.

“There are some people who object to the flags for political reasons,” she said. “There are ways to protest if you don’t believe in something, but destructive protests like this do not accomplish goals. It does not accomplish anything.”

The resident acknowledged, however, that the flag burnings could also be a random act of “pure vandalism,” adding that said she could not remember anything like this happening in the 11 years she has lived in the neighborhood.

“It’s dangerous,” she said. “It could have caused a real fire.”

Anyone with information about the burnings is asked to call Deputy Fire Marshal Paul Frank at 703-228-4644. More photos, after the jump.

Hat tip to Colleen Creighton

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