By ADAM STEWART

Staff writer

Teamwork allowed Cub and Boy Scouts, along with Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce to collect more than one ton of food and hygiene supplies during the “Fill the Bus” food drive Saturday for Main Street Ministries.

“Fill the Bus” is a Chamber of Commerce promotion, and for their part, some downtown businesses offered discounts or other perks in return for food donations, promotions committee member Brenda Coryea said.

“A food drive seemed like a good thing,” she said.

Main Street Ministries has been giving more food to needy people lately because of the economy, she said.

The effort came two weeks after church youth groups collected 2,500 pounds, but Main Street Ministries had plenty more room, Coryea said.

Cub Scout Pack 129 and Boy Scout Troop 129 distributed sacks and fliers to homes Tuesday asking for Hillsboro residents to fill the sacks with food and hygiene supplies. Donors set the sacks outside Saturday for the scouts to collect.

Pack 129 Cubmaster DeLayne Herbel said the food drive is similar to the national Scouting for Food program, held mostly in September. Because of the partnership with the chamber of commerce, the scouts delayed the food drive.

About 15 scouts distributed the sacks, and 10 scouts collected donations, Herbel said. The number of volunteers approximately doubled when parents were included.

Scouts and parents began picking up donations about 8:30 a.m., and collecting lasted until about 10:30 a.m.

Volunteers accepted donations at the eponymous bus until 12:30 p.m., when scouts went to Main Street Ministries to unload the donations. About 2,260 pounds of food and supplies were donated, Herbel said.

“It was a good experience for the boys,” he said.