Girl Scout Troop Creates Comfort Kits for Local Children Diagnosed with Cancer
October 7th marks the recognition of National Child Health Day, a day that helps showcase the individuals, schools, organizations and government agencies that act on behalf of child health throughout the year. Inspired by cancer diagnosis of a fellow elementary school student, Troop 3504 from Green Tree Elementary in Lake St. Louis, jumped into action, planning a Bronze Award project to help comfort children faced with a life-changing diagnosis.
To earn their Bronze Award, Troop 3504 members Harper Hosp, Olivia Saeger, Sophie Scott, Ella Schafluetzel, Victoria Beno, Audrey Beno, Layla Scheible, Alice Graber, Elle Griffey, Ruby Rozhon and Savannah Johnson carefully curated 35 cancer comfort kits that were donated to an area hospital. The troop developed two versions of the comfort kits, one for pre-teens and teens and one for youth-aged patients. Using troop funds raised through their participation in the Girl Scout Cookie Program, the Girl Scouts purchased items for each kit including hand lotion, lip balm, fun fidget toys, handheld games, hats, cosmetic/travel bags, coloring books and crayons, as well as blankets and bracelets made by the troop members.
According to Troop 3504, “We chose this community need for our Bronze Award project because we all knew someone in our life who had been affected by cancer. In our own school, we had a student who was diagnosed with cancer and we wanted to come up with an idea that could help him, but also other kids, too. We wanted our Cancer Comfort Kits to bring joy and fun in an otherwise tough time. The message we wanted to share with our kits was "You've got this, keep fighting!"
“Together, our troop learned many skills while working on our Bronze Award,” said Troop 3504. “We all learned how to knot fleece blankets to include in our kits. We also learned how to set goals, budget for supplies needed and work together as a team to achieve our goals. We each set individual goals to research items that would bring comfort to someone with cancer, to create cards for each kit, to knot blankets, and to make bracelets. Together, our individual goals allowed us to accomplish our troop goal!”
The Girl Scout Bronze Award is the highest honor a Girl Scout Junior, girls in 4th-5th grade can achieve. It requires girls to identify a need in their community and dedicate on average more than 20 hours towards addressing and solving the issue. When Girl Scout Juniors focus on an issue, they care about, learn the facts, take action to make a difference, and they gain the confidence and skills that catapult them to lifelong success.
