Bancroft chapter of the Beavers donate to NHCC

By Michael Riley

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Beavers with the 1^st Bancroft Beavers, Cubs and Scouts, donated 75 pounds of non-perishable food items to the North Hastings Community Cupboard on April 18, according to a posting on the 1^st Bancroft Beavers, Cubs and Scouts Facebook page. Loretta Kasperski, with the 1^st Bancroft Beavers, Cubs and Scouts, and Monica Piercey, executive director of the NHCC comment on this donation by the Beavers to Bancroft This Week.

Kasperski told Bancroft This Week that the donation to NHCC was part of the Beavers' work on their North Star Award.

“To achieve this award you need to accomplish five levels of Outdoor Adventure Skills Badges, 5 hours of Community Service and a Capstone Project (a community project that benefits the community in a meaningful way). Since the Community Cupboard has been having Spring Food Drive the Beavers decided collecting non-perishable items to help would benefit the Community. They spent the evening of April 15th walking door to door collecting and I contacted them to arrange a drop of. The Community Cupboard was very appreciative of this donation and the Beavers felt they helped families in the community,” she says.

Made up of 24 youth ranging from five years to 15 years of age, the 1^st Bancroft Scouting group, which is a coed group, consists of Beaver Scouts, Cub Scouts, Scouts and Venture Scouts, engage in outdoor activities to develop life skills like leadership, teamwork and communication. For more information, go to their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/1stNorthHastingsBeavers.

Kasperski says that the scouting program is not only an outdoor program but a program where giving back to the community is important. She says it promotes volunteering and helping build skills to help children grow into well rounded adults that are better prepared for success.
“We have Cubs working on their Seeonee award right now and Scouts working on their Chief Scout Award.
Watching the youth work hard and seeing their achievements is an award to us Volunteers. Their pride and dedication to helping making their world a better place is an awesome feeling. I am so proud of our youth. I look forward to seeing what other youth are working on and helping them achieve their goals,” she says.

Piercey told Bancroft This Week that it's always heartwarming to see youth participating in improving their community.

“They are the next generation and to see kids being aware of the impact of poverty in the region, and that they can actively participate in positively impacting a great need gives hope for the future,” she says. “We were thrilled to greet the scouts and receive their donations.”