By ELI LUTGENS
Publisher/Editor
About 100 hungry area residents helped themselves to tacos, company, and raffle tickets by about the midway point of the Ellendale area food shelf annual donation drive on Sunday, April 23 at Ellendale United Methodist Church.
Event workers included some of the nearly two dozen food shelf volunteers, who help with the food shelf throughout the year. Also helping were Ellendale area Boy Scouts from Troop 7 out of Albert Lea.
They were NRHEG freshmen: Wyatt Larson, Jordan Brouwers, Jacob Karl and Devon Nelton.
Before joining Boy Scouts together in sixth grade, nearly the entire troop had been together in Cub Scouts since first or second grade. Sunday’s event earned the Scouts the first half of their eight hours of community service necessary to earn their citizenship badge.
Scouts Larson and Brouwers were technically the seniors rank of the four volunteers, holding the rank of Life. Carla and Nelson are ranked Star and First Class, respectively.
Troop leader Hanna Brouwers has been with the group since about third grade.
“This group is hard-working; they participate well and are well on their way,” Hanna Brouwers said.
The group's most recent endeavors included a food drive, which brought in more than 600 pounds of food.
The Scouts were unanimous in their excitement to be there, along with their excitement for future events; each of the boys has about two years left, and their goal is to earn their Eagle Scout status.
At the time of printing, the amount of money raised was unknown, and the number of ticket sales is unknown, but some of the raffle items included cabinets, a TV for the grand prize winner and much more.
Organizer Cynthia Nelson says she hopes to continue to put on a big event like this in the spring and fall.