Port Washington Girl Scout troops braved the rain on Saturday, May 12 to collect bags full of food and supplies to donate to food pantries such as Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church and St. Stephen’s Church. As part of their Bronze Award project, Girl Scout Troop 426 organized the food and summer supply drive in front of Stop and Shop after identifying that some children do not get the same amount of meals during the summer months that they would normally receive while in school.
“I’ve been a runner and I’ve only been here for a few minutes, but I’m soaking wet,” said Eve, who then explained why it was so important the girls hold the food drive. “There are not many food drives in the summer months.”
“I’ve been sorting mostly, going and getting the bags,” added Helena. “There’s been a lot of bags so it’s been fun. Some people rely on school for some meals like lunch and sometimes breakfast and during the summer you don’t go to school obviously, so it’s important to collect the food.”
Troops signed up for time slots throughout the day from 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. The girls stood near both doors at the supermarket, handing out bags to those ready to shop and collected donations to give to the food pantries. Once bags were given to the girls, some troops would run full bags over to a separate table where another troop was sorting the donations to bring to the different food pantries.
“I was a bag giver for a little while and then I came to sort,” said Eva. “It’s fun. When we were giving bags, someone made a $20 donation.”
“On the way out some people give the change they got at the cash register,” added Ryann.
