Scout comes up big with 5,000-pound food drive

Bowmanville boy’s effort will help local food bank

An 11-year-old Bowmanville boy held nine mini-food drives and donated thousands of pounds of food to the local food bank.

“I heard the food banks were low so I thought I would help them get food,” said Reilly Howard. “We went and did food drives door-to-door.”

He delivered flyers door-todoor telling neighbours when he’d be back to gather food donations. He visited approximately 200 homes in nine different Bowmanville neighbourhoods from mid-August to mid-September.

“This boy managed to collect 2.5 tonnes, or 5,000 pounds of food,” Christine Boyd, food bank co-ordinator at St. Vincent de Paul Food Bank in Bowmanville, said via email.

Reilly, a member of the 3rd Bowmanville Scout troop, launched his food drive as part of his efforts to earn a Chief Scout Award. To achieve the award, a Scout has to earn outdoor adventure skills, complete 30 hours of community service, lead a group outing and complete a “Capstone project” that has a service aspect to the community — which is where the food drive came in.

“I was really surprised, I didn’t think we’d ever get to 5,000 pounds,” said Reilly, whose initial goal was to raise 4,000 pounds.

Reilly got help canvassing neighbourhoods and collecting the food from his friends and older brother, Trystan Howard, 15. It took 18 nights of work for the nine food drives.