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Homes across Frederick and Carroll counties will be peppered with bags Saturday morning, left behind by scouts on a mission: to help address hunger in the communities they live in.

Member of Cub Scout Pack 369 and Boy Scout Troop 1023, both of the Kemptown area, will drop off food donation bags to residences, then pick the bags up on Nov. 14 as part of scout's "Scouting for Food" drive. The youth are covering neighborhoods in southern Mount Airy, Ijamsville, Monrovia and Kemptown.

Mount Airy resident Jessica Mouton, a Cub Scout Pack 369 mom helping with the project, said the total number of scouts participating every year is different, but last year there had been large participation.

She said the drive is also a teaching opportunity for parents in the group. Mouton's 9-year-old son Julian said it is his favorite project and that he felt happy that he was making a difference. She said it was encouraging last year to observe the joy in his eyes as he placed empty bags on mailboxes and porches and then ran to pick up the bags with the food a week later.

"I think just trying to plant a seed at that age," she said. ".. just to realize that there are other families out there not as fortunate as he is."

David Kindred, drive coordinator for Cub Scout Pack 369 and Boy Scout Troop 1023, agreed.

"A lot of the kids here don't really have direct contact with needy families; this is an opportunity for them to step outside of what they're used to," said Kindred, who has three sons in the Boy Scout troop. "Certainly it lets them understand there really is a need and gives them an opportunity to provide and to serve instead of just be recipients. It has some real life lessons for them."

Filled bags can be left on porches, near front doors or by mailboxes and the collected food will be given to area food banks.

"We're hoping that people remember to put out their bags," Kindred said.

Last year the group was able to gather 4,400 pounds of food, almost double the amount of the previous year.

Although the fruit of Cub Scout Pack 369 and Boy Scout Troop 1023's labor will go to the Frederick Rescue Mission, other food pantries benefit from the nationwide scouting event.

One of the recipients is Mount Airy Net, a nonprofit that runs a food pantry, said Elaine Dean, the Net's executive director.

She said a lot of different organizations collect food for the pantry, from churches and youth groups to community groups.

"It's different organizations that do different things and it all works together to help Net," she said.

The food pantry is lowest in the food stocks that she has ever seen, said Dean who has been involved with the nonprofit for six years. "I think it's because of the economy."

She said monetary donations have remained the same, but where those donations usually go toward helping those in need with fuel costs or oil and electricity bills, it's now directed toward filling the gaps left in shelves by the drop in canned goods and non-perishable item donations.

Dean said right now the Net seems to run out of peanut butter and jelly on a pretty regular basis, but canned tomatoes and fruits were also consistently low.

"We never know from one day to the next what we'll be missing," she said.

E-mail Angie Cochrun at acochrun@gazette.net.

-Empty bags will be distributed to homes on Saturday

-Scouts will return to pick up filled bags on Nov. 14

-Urgently needed items at area food banks include canned meats, canned vegetables, canned fruits, soups, cereals, pasta, rice, preserves, peanut butter, canned tuna, instant potatoes, baby food and formula, diapers and personal hygiene items.

-If you do not receive a bag and would like to help, visit www.scoutingforfood.net.