Over the last several Sundays at the King Kullen Supermarket on Route 25A in Wading River, Boy Scout Troop 161 from Shoreham has been accepting donations of food and supplies for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. This Sunday was no exception.
Assistant Scout Masters Pete Maritato and Ray Epp have been amazed by the community's outpouring of generosity, especially right after the storm. "But now, a few weeks in, there is still great need," Mr. Maritato told me yesterday.
Troop 161 often works with the Congregationalist Church in Wading River, using their facilities as a drop off for donations. This year they are going beyond making Thanksgiving baskets and resupplying the food pantry. They are making runs of much needed supplies to hard-hit south shore communities.
As my son, Collin Cook and daughter Sid Branca Cook went to preschool at the church, I immediately made a food donation to Troop 161 right after the storm. Then when my sister, Ginny Branca Schaire, a Long Islander living in Maryland, wanted to help out, I suggested we work with the Boy Scouts. So Collin's cousin, Wesley Schaire of Troop 176 in Salisbury, Maryland, collected heavy duty cleaning supplies, filled up his mom's Highlander and she drove the supplies up to NY so we could distribute to people affected by Hurricane Sandy. That’s why they are called Boy Scouts of America.
