Brownie Troop 71091 Helps Kids Have Merry Christmas

Troop leader Kristin Maus provided the following information about Brownie Troop's much-needed toy donations:

This fall the girls have been working on their "World of Girls" Journey.  A Girl Scout Journey is a themed and grade-specific experience that is spread throughout a series of sessions, has a clear starting point (an invitation to explore and take action) and a finite ending point (opportunities to enjoy closure though reflections, badges, and celebration.) The particular journey on which Troop 71091 is working requires the girls to explore and identify a story of need in their own community and then organize a service project that will solve the problem that they identified.

The girls brain-stormed many ideas which included food collection, toy collection, helping out at a local library and continuing the relationships that they established last school year with the residents at The Colonnade of Schwenksville. We eliminated several, but then were touched and motivated by the news that Jerusalem Lutheran Church's Annual Toy Drive was desperately needing help this year because not only did they have record numbers of children to serve, but the corporate sponsor on whom they were counting for the majority of their donations revoked their backing at the last minute.

We had found our story of community need!  Maureen Garrett and Jane Leonard (the mother of one our Brownies) created flyers for each girls' own neighborhood and the girls distributed nearly 1000 fliers to their friends and neighbors. The Evergreen community donated more than 250 toys to this worthy cause. We had more toys than the extended cab pick-up could hold. We even had a brand new bike and several hundred dollars worth of gift cards.  

Linda Ayres, the spokesperson from the Jerusalem Lutheran Church's Food Pantry told the girls that each child would get three gifts and a game this year because of the success of the Brownies' toy drive. Normally they would only give two toys and a game.