Local Boy Scout Troops 395 and 1395 are making thousands of luminarias again this year for their annual fundraiser. The scouts fill paper bags with sand, fold the tops and deliver them across the metro area.  Each bag comes with a candle.

“We’re filling, folding, rolling, delivering all of that, so it saves people so much time, and it makes them really happy that we keep it up,” Eagle Scout Michael Whitford told KOB.

The annual fundraiser began in 1990 with proceeds funding many of the troop’s activities throughout the year. “It’s how we fundraise for all of our events, for our camping trips, for our gear, all of it, so this is really what makes our money for us,” Whitford said.

This year, troop leaders say, they are struggling to meet demand. “We usually sell out every year, so we sometimes have to make some extras,” Whitford said.

Deliveries begin the second or third weekend of December. The scouts have a lot of repeat customers who troop leaders say sometimes order luminarias for the entire neighborhood.

 “I think it like makes us one with the community,” scout Olivia Withrow said. “I think it’s a really good way to put our name out into the community, and just make sure that people know that we’re still here and we’re strong.”

The troops are offering online ordering and free delivery for those who order at least two dozen. Click here to learn more.

Residents in the Huning Castle neighborhood near Old Town Albuquerque appreciate the work the scouts do. “We do love that the Boy Scouts put up the whole neighborhood,” Melissa Frankel told KOB. “Just that everybody in the community as a whole that participates in it, is wonderful."