Community Service in January

January was a busy month for Girl Scouts. In addition to kicking off the Girl Scout Cookie Program season, girls were involved in many community service projects.

Girl Scout Troop 269 in Virginia Beach created care kits for the Virginia Beach Department of Human Services – kits that will be distributed to children being placed in foster care. For the kits, they collected hygiene items, such as tooth brushes, tooth paste and combs, as well as hat, gloves and scarves. The girls made journals to place in the kits as well. Some donations were purchased using their “cookie dough” from troop funds, and others were collected from the girls’ schools.

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, Jan. 21, the troop assembled the kits in pillow cases at Virginia Wesleyan College. Rhonda Hoffman, M.S.W., a case worker with the Department of Human Services, met with the troop and provided information about the foster care system. She thanked the girls for their contribution and assured them it would be put to good use.

“We were inspired by one of the girls in our troop who has had a foster care experience,” Diane Hotaling, a troop parent said. “We know that children who suddenly find themselves in foster care arrive with just the clothes on their backs and we wanted to change that for as many children as we could with these care kits.”