Photos courtesy of T. Powell Photos
On October 21, the Matinecock District (Scouts BSA) held their 2nd annual Touch A Truck at Walt Whitman Mall. This year, a new feature was added –the main purpose of the event is to give our community’s family a Free & Fun experience and the element that was added was a Food Drive!
Scouting continues no matter what the weather brings! The wet and cold weather that had plagued and hijacked over nine weekends of the Fall affected the attendance and the Touch a Truck event had been scheduled on September 23 but that was washed out by a large storm that lasted all weekend. Re-scheduled for Oct. 21, it happened to rain that day also. But the scouts refuse to get bullied by the weather a 2nd time and Matinecock District scouts had a greater purpose. They powered through it, and were determined to collect food for our Huntington Food Pantries that are struggling greatly this year.
The Huntington community’s supportive business organizations provided various police vehicles, fire trucks, a garbage truck, a street sweeper truck, buses, Military Hummers, Suffolk County Emergency Disaster vehicles, Dump trucks, Excavators, Semi’s, Huge moving Trucks, and Ambulances. At each of the vehicles, the drivers of the trucks were able to discuss the purpose of the vehicle, safety, instructions on how to operate the vehicle, and give hand activities such as sirens, back lifts, horns, and much more!
Thanks to the tireless work of Hollie Garrido, 2023 Suffolk County Council (ScoutsBSA) Volunteer of the Year recipient and PTA President of South Huntington School District and to Senior District Executive, Taliesin Powell, of Suffolk County Council, Boy Scouts of America, this event was considered a success.
There were more than 400 people that attended the event in the rainy weather, but it didn’t stop the smiles and the enjoyment of seeing these massive vehicles up close and personal. The parents were grateful that the Matinecock District put on this event because they were tired of being stuck inside for the past nine weekends. Despite the weather, about 600lbs of food were collected for our local Huntington Pantries. It was an amazing event that spread across town and was well received. The boys and girls with their parents and guardians participating came from all over from Commack, Kings Park, Huntington, Riverhead, Setauket, Ronkonkoma, Northport, Nesconset, Dix Hills, Port Jeff Station, Babylon, Massapequa, Plainview, Levittown, and from various Smithtown areas to enjoy and learn about all the trucks.
A very special thank you to all the wonderful companies, departments, and volunteers that came out to support the Suffolk County Council, Boy Scouts of America and to support the wonderful youth that makes up our communities: Suffolk County Police Department 2nd Precinct, SFPD Emergency Response, South Huntington School Transportation, Town of Huntington Department of Highway, Huntington Community First Aid Squad, Huntington Manor Fire Department, Melville Fire Department, Smoothie King, Liberty Moving & Storage, S&L Brothers Landscaping Inc, Peter Scalamandre & Son’s Construction, Kleet Lumber, Halis Ice Cream Truck, Long Island Dumpsters, and Stop & Shop in Huntington.
For more Information about scouting, future free events for the community, and next year’s Touch a Truck, please contact Matinecock Senior District Executive Tali Powell at t (631) 924- 7000 Ext. 131 or via email at Taliesin.Powell@scouting.org. The Matinecock District covers the Town of Huntington, Northport, East Northport, and Kings Park, Commack and Hauppauge (in the western section of the Smithtown Township). The Cub Scout program is geared to the youth ages 5 to 10 and the Scouts BSA Scout adventure (open to both boys and girls in separate troops) is for the 11-17 year olds – no previous scouting experience is needed to join the fun!
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