When I was in Boy Scouts, we had two fund raising events per year; in the summer we went door to door and sold packs of light bulbs, in winter we sold Christmas wreaths. I have no idea if we raised any significant amount of money, but if we did, it was supposed to support the troop and summer camping programs.
The last few years, pretty much everywhere I see scouts hocking goodies on the sidewalk, it’s been tubs of popcorn. (unpopped). I remember the brand as being “Trail’s End” and I see that’s a division or subsidiary of Pop Weaver Popcorn, out of Indiana.
I think Scouting is a good thing, and I try and buy the popcorn when I see it available. Besides, I like Pop Weaver corn. They have it at Wal-Mart, and the microwave one is a bargain compared to say, Pop Secret.
Today I saw Scouts selling jerky and pepperoni snack sticks, loaded up on a few, glanced at the package and see they are made in Ocala, FL by a company called Country Meats, who appears to only be in the fundraising segment, offering many different flavors of snack sticks.
The pepperoni ones have an impressive list of ingredient: pork, salt, spices, and natural smoke flavoring. That’s substantially it. And they are damned tasty. I like Slim Jim’s and Jack Links, but they are mostly beef sticks, so to have a pepperoni pork one suits me fine. The snack has great flavor and a nice grind, the collagen casing gives a nice snap reminiscent of a natural casing.
Apparently, you can do business with Country Meats if you want to have a fundraising deal for your organization. A case contains 144 snack sticks and is yours for $89, with a suggestion you sell them for a buck apiece. You can order online. Country Meats operates a USDA inspected facility at 7650 SW 75th Avenue, Ocala FL. They even have a YouTube video to show you how they are made (below). I like transparency, especially in the food industry.