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This November, don't be surprised if a Cub Scout or Boy Scout in uniform knocks on your door. Scouts will participate in their yearly "Scouting for Food" project. Scouts will be making the rounds and asking residents for donations of non-perishable food to benefit the county's needy.

Beginning Saturday, scouts will deliver "Scouting for Food" bags throughout their neighborhoods. On Nov. 14, the scouts will return to collect the bags that residents can fill with food donations. Much of the food collected will be delivered to the Manna Food Center in Rockville, a nonprofit group that fights hunger in the community. Nearly 40 percent of those who will benefit from the donations are children.

Scouts have taken on similar endeavors in past years and have collected thousands of pounds of food. Others scouting districts in the National Capital Area are also taking on the project.

A local collection point for food donations is located at Quince Orchard High School parking lot, 15800 Quince Orchard Road, Gaithersburg. Drop off items from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 14. For more information, contact Richard Cohen at cohen676@hotmail.com or 202-549-4677. Items can also dropped off from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 14 at the Germantown Safeway at Route 118 and Middlebrook Road. Contact Jim Hardter at jhardter@msn.com.

Dentists bring fresh smiles to Africa

A team of dentists from Gaithersburg will be traveling to sub-Saharan Africa in February to establish dental care for orphaned children in the Nyumbani Children's Home and Nyumbani Village in Nairobi, Kenya.

Dr. Paul Niesen, a general dentist who practices on Russell Avenue in Olde Towne, and Dr. Larry Fields, who recently retired after three decades of general practice in Gaithersburg, will lead the team. The dentists will provide "desperately needed" dental care for 600 children and their caregivers at the Nyumbani Children's Home and Nyumbani Village, Niesen said.

The children's home is an orphanage in Nairobi which cares for 100 HIV-positive children, he said. The Nyumbani Village is a self-sufficient community of more than 400 children and 60 grandparents in Kitui, Kenya, founded in 2006 to re-establish family units and care for individuals whose lives have been ravaged by HIV/AIDS.

A patient had long ago gotten involved with supporting the Nyumbani children, said Niesen, who said his dentistry began sending toothbrushes to Kenya with her about six months ago. Over the last six months, the firm has sent more than 800 toothbrushes.

"What struck me was her statement that in many cases the toothbrush was the first item that the children had ever owned," he said. "I guess at this point I asked her ‘Well, what do these children do if they have a toothache or need emergency dental care?' ... She just sort of shrugged her shoulders. Her response was that there was no real dental care infrastructure in the village, so that's what we hope to establish."

He and his dental hygienist, Sara Grimes of Germantown began putting plans together for a trip, he said. His team aims to establish a comprehensive dental program that will bring follow-up care to children and grandparents of Nyumbani Village whose dental needs are identified on this pre-screening trip.

To learn more about Nyumbani Children's Home and Nyumbani Village, visit www.nyumbani.org. For information about the dental mission or to make a donation, e-mail Niesen at nieseoffice@comcast.net.

One more flea market

The last flea market of the year hosted by the Germantown Historical Society is 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the MARC train parking lot, Route 118 and Bowman Mill Drive. Reservations are not required; $15. For details, call 301-972-2707.

Tour college'sforest

Take an educational tour of Montgomery College's Germantown forest next week.

The Forest Celebration Walk, organized by the Germantown campus' outdoors and environmental clubs, is free and open to the public. The educational walk will be hosted by Salisbury University professor Joan Maloof, author of "Teaching the Trees: Lessons from the Forest."

The event is from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on Nov. 11. The group will meet at the college's globe-shaped water tower located behind the Sciences and Applied Studies Building, 20200 Observation Drive, Germantown. For more information, contact Aradhana Kamble at akamble@montgomerycollege.edu.

Heritage Tourism awards grants

The nonprofit Heritage Tourism Alliance of Montgomery County awarded minigrants totaling $12,740 to projects that support heritage activities.

The grants were given to: Montgomery Preservation Inc., Rockville – $2,500 for a publication on Silver Spring railroad history; Washington Revels Inc., Silver Spring – $2,500 to develop interactive Civil War musical programs; King Barn Dairy Mooseum, Boyds — $1,270 to revise and reprint their Introductory Brochure on the history of dairy farming; Montgomery County Historical Society, Rockville – $2,500 to publish a book on Dr. Edward Stonestreet; Sugarloaf Regional Trails, Barnesville – $2,500 to research, design and produce a Farm Trail guide for the Sugarloaf Regional Trails Web site; Peerless Rockville, Rockville – $970 to develop and produce a walking tour highlighting women important in shaping Rockville's heritage; and Sugarland Ethno-History Project, Poolesville – $500 for a bronze plaque marking the earliest known grave in the original Historic St. Paul Community Church cemetery.

Send submissions to Melissa A. Chadwick via e-mail at mchadwick@gazette.net, fax at 301-670-7183 or mail to The Germantown-Boyds-Poolesville Gazette, 9030 Comprint Court, Gaithersburg, MD 20877.