After the scouts’ second drive next weekend, Tracy Interfaith Ministries Director Darlene Quinn expects well over a ton of food from the citywide sweep.

Cars full of a collective 1,000 pounds of food pulled up to Tracy Interfaith on Saturday, ready to deliver what a group of Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts spent all morning collecting for the needy as part of Scouting for Food, a national Scouting tradition.

Webelo Scout Ryan Tito, 9, was one of the first to finish his collections.

“I feel very proud of myself,” he said. “I went up to each door and said ‘Hello, we’re from Pack 545, and we’re wondering if you wanted to donate some food to the needy.’”

Inside the warehouse at Tracy Interfaith, Quinn and a few volunteers readied rows of boxes and crates for the incoming supplies.

“Just as our shelves were going bare, the scouts bring in all this food. We’re so grateful, and very privileged to get it,” she said, shuffling around the empty boxes and pulling out a few shopping carts to carry the food in.

And while most people who donate drop the food at the front door, the Scouts stay a bit longer to sort through the mess of ramen noodles and beans, canned fruit and a gamut of other nonperishables.

“The best thing about the Scouts is that they’ll stay and sort,” Quinn said, watching the 9- and 10-year-old Webelos lug in grocery bags and boxes of the morning’s spoils.

“It’s nice to be able to help people who can’t afford to help themselves,” said Joseph Merrill, 10, a Second Class Scout. “I’ve been doing this since I was a Cub Scout, but it’s always important to me.”

At a glance WHAT: Scouting for Food

WHEN: 9 a.m. to noon Nov. 17

INFO: Carole Merrill, 14-6011