Members of St. Mary’s Boy Scout Troop 109 sort cans and bottles at last year’s event. (Photo courtesy Members of St. Mary’s Boy Scout Troop 109)
WESTFIELD – St. Mary’s Boy Scout Troop 109 will be holding their annual Bottle and Can Drive on Saturday, March 3rd, from 9AM to 2PM outside of Super Phipps on East Main Street.
The scouts are raising funds for troop equipment such as tents, cooking gear, water filtration, backpacking gear, flags, and other supplies they need to run a successful fun Boy Scout program. Several generous members of the community are also matching a penny per can – with those funds earmarked for camperships that help scouts attend summer camps, weekend camping trips, and other scouting programs.
The troop expects to collect and process about 45,000 cans and bottles this year. Last year they collected 41,431. Because of the massive volume, the scouts take the bottles and cans to a bulk servicing center. This center honors the CT stamp on water bottles, so the scouts are encouraging folks to donate any plastic water bottles they may have along with the normal soda and beer cans and bottles.
Troop 109 is one of the best and most active scouting troops in the Westfield area. Besides all the fun scouting activities, the scouts donate hundreds of hours every year helping out the community.
St. Mary’s Troop 109 meets on Monday evenings from 6:50 to 8:30. The scouts are a very active bunch. They do fun camping or outdoor activities year-round. The St. Mary’s troop also does quite a bit of backpacking. They’ve trekked the Appalachian Trail in Massachusetts, section hiked in the White Mountains, done several 100 mile canoe trips, and have backpacked for about a week in several National Parks: Bryce Canyon and Zion, Grand Tetons, Sequoia and Mount Whitney, Glacier, and the Grand Canyon.
This year the older experienced scouts are heading to California where they will spend about a week backpacking in Yosemite National Park. Before heading back home, they’ll tour the California coast and San Francisco.
Boy Scouts is for boys age 11 through 18. You don’t have to have been a Cub Scout in order to join Boy Scouts, and you don’t have to be a parishioner of St. Mary’s to join Boy Scout Troop 109.
Scoutmaster Emeritus, Dave Flaherty, says “over the last 10 years or so, we’ve had many guys join Scouts as middle-schoolers. Often they have buddies in the Troop or they’ve attended one of our open events and really liked the activities.”
“I believe scouting values and experiences are critical for today’s youth. The world is chaotic and today’s kids face many great challenges. Boy Scouts offers wonderful values and experiences, and the lessons the kids learn through scouting will stay with them for the rest of their lives.”
Personal responsibility, leadership, teamwork, participating citizenship, volunteerism, health and fitness, and respect and enjoyment of the outdoors are all benefits of scouting according to Flaherty.
For more information about scouting, contact the leaders of Troop 109 via email at [email protected], or visit the Western Mass Council of Boy Scouts website at www.wmascouting.org. The Council serves more than 6,000 young people and more than 1,500 adult volunteers in Hampden, Berkshire, Franklin, and Hampshire counties. The Council has programs for boys and young men ages five to 20, and young women ages 13 to 20.
Please donate your returnable bottles and cans on Saturday from 9AM to 2PM in front of Super Phipps. If you can’t make it on Saturday, the scouts can arrange for pick-ups of two bags or more. Please send an email to [email protected] or call Jacky Fouche at 413-531-8249.
