South county residents are encouraged to hang bags of canned goods on their doors Saturday, Nov. 17, as part of the Boy Scouts’ 23rd annual food drive.

This Saturday, Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts will collect the canned-good-filled bags that were hung on doors last weekend.

The Greater St. Louis Area Council has collected more than 33 million cans of food during the previous 22 years of the annual drive, according to a news release issued by the Gravois Trail District of the Greater St. Louis Area Council Boy Scouts of America.

Scouting for Food is the nation’s largest one-day food drive and raises 15 percent of area food pantries’ yearly supply and can feed “the hungry in the community” for three months.

In addition, Boy Scouts will receive help in collecting donated food from Sunset Transportation Inc. of Sunset Hills. The organization will provide vehicles, equipment and volunteer drivers as well as additional volunteer trucking companies to transport collected food.

Food also will be transported from more than 50 area fire houses to the St. Louis Area Food Bank, which then will box donated foods and deliver them to more than 500 food pantries in the St. Louis area.

Donated food will be on pantry shelves within 48 hours of the Scouts’ pickup, according to the release.

Residents also can donate food items at all six Syberg’s Restaurant sites in the area as Brett Syberg is this year’s chairman for Scouting for Food in south county.