It’s one of the highlights of the year for Marion’s Cub Scouts Pack 32. Well, every other year, that is.
The Biennial Soap Box Derby is an exciting event when kids ages 6 to 11 get to rev up their imaginations and design their winning soap box cart. This year may have been a little on the chilly side, but the weather was sunny and bright, just perfect for zooming down Holmes Street in Marion at what seems to the soap box cart driver a million miles an hour.
“And they spend the whole day enjoying it,” said Assistant Headmaster Kristen Saint Don-Campbell. “It’s a huge, fun thing for them. Outside of camping, it’s their favorite event.”
On top of all that, the pack stays true to its philosophy of having “fun with a purpose.”
“The Cub Scouts have been doing a food drive annually, and every other year we have the soap box derby, so we combine the two events,” said Saint Don-Campbell. The Scouts began collecting canned goods and non-perishables on October 17, assisted by the Marion Police Department and the First Congregational Church of Marion. Together, this year they collected a whopping 500 pounds of food for the needy. Imagine the back of a pick-up truck full of stacked boxes of food and you get an idea of the scope of the food drive’s success.
“It’s a real community effort,” said Saint Don-Campbell.
This is the second year that Pack 32 has chosen M.O. L.I.F.E. in Fairhaven as its beneficiary. The nonprofit organization assists people with disabilities in living an independent fulfilling life, and provides support in an array of areas such as meaningful employment, educational opportunities, and also has a food pantry for clients most in need.
“We wanted to keep the food local,” said Saint Don-Campbell. She said the pack prefers M.O. L.I.F.E. because it offers those in need of food the chance to contribute back in the form of volunteer work in exchange for a variety of services, including the food pantry. “They actually check who their food goes to. In order to get the supplies, they kind of work … and help out the organization,” said Saint Don-Campbell. “It’s kind of like, we give to them and they give to themselves.”
By Jean Perry
