By Ashley M. Casey
Associate Editor
Community service is essential to the mission of the Girl Scouts, and two Baldwinsville troops are celebrating the holidays by giving back.
For the past five years, Troop 10134 has donated items to the Baldwinsville Community Food Pantry, which is operated by the First United Methodist Church of Baldwinsville. This year, the troop was able to purchase more than 250 items for the food pantry using the proceeds of its fall product sale.
“The girls go shopping and pick out everything themselves,” said troop leader Amy DeJohn.
Troop 10134, which is made up of 9th- and 10th-graders, also assists at the Liverpool Elks’ monthly breakfasts, serving food and busing tables.
“We want to give back to the community in which we live,” DeJohn said.
In February 2020, Troop 10134 will hold a “take action” project for World Thinking Day, for which the theme is inclusion. The troop often volunteers with the Syracuse-area branch of GiGi’s Playhouse, which supports people with Down syndrome.
“We just worked their Christmas party,” DeJohn said, “and we also did the Buddy Walk at Long Branch Park, which is one of their big fundraisers.”
For World Thinking Day, Troop 10134 will plan activities for Girl Scout troops from across Central New York Girl promoting diversity and inclusion.
“Our world is becoming so globally diverse. We have to be welcoming of people of all cultures,” DeJohn said. “You have to learn how to work with people, collaborate and get along.”
DeJohn said her girls have earned their Bronze and Silver Awards, and will begin working on their Gold Awards, the highest achievement a Girl Scout can reach.
While DeJohn’s younger daughter, Anna, is in Troop 10134, her older daughter, Emily, is wrapping up her time as a Girl Scout in Troop 10130. Troop leader Mary Morgan said Troop 10130 is passing the torch on two of its projects, the Smokey Hollow Road cleanup and the annual PJ Roundup.
In the past six years, Troop 10130 has collected 1,100 sets of pajamas for the Baldwinsville Christmas Bureau through the roundup. Each year, the troop invites neighboring Girl Scout troops for a holiday celebration themed around a movie. This year’s theme was “The Polar Express Around the World.” The scouts learned about Christmas traditions from different countries and received a “Believe” bell from Santa Claus.
“This year we had around 140 girls participate and collected 195 pairs [of pajamas],” Morgan said. “It’s not unusual for people to bring multiples.”
Morgan said her scouts spend the money they earned selling cookies to put on the PJ Roundup. They don’t seek fanfare for their community service, but they enjoy the “quiet satisfaction of giving back.”
“It’s just because it’s the right thing to do,” she said. “My girls are lucky enough to come from homes where worrying about warm pajamas isn’t an issue.”
For more information about the Baldwinsville Community Food Pantry, contact the First United Methodist Church at 315-635-6442 or [email protected].
The Baldwinsville Christmas Bureau is an income-based program that provides food, clothing and toys for families with children from birth to age 18 in the Baldwinsville Central School District. The bureau is operated by the Baldwinsville Volunteer Center and is accepting donations through Dec. 14. To learn more, visit bvillevolunteers.org or search for “Baldwinsville Christmas Bureau” on Facebook.
