Local Girl Scouts Helping Needy Kids In Foster Care

SHIRLEY, NY — Local Girl Scouts are opening their hearts to help kids in the Suffolk County foster care system.

According to Girl Scout leader Erica Jackson, her daughter Karen and three other girls, all of whom are eighth graders and in Girl Scout Troop 713 in Shirley, are working on their Girl Scout Silver Award project.

The Girl Scout Silver Award is the highest award a Cadette Girl Scout can earn and the second highest award a Girl Scout can earn. To earn the award, Girl Scouts are expected to contribute 50 hours to a take-action project that they plan must plan and complete.

The Girl Scouts are collecting donations to fill 100 comfort bags for children who are first entering the foster care system. The bags will include small necessities, including toiletries, special hand-written notes, and stuffed animals.

Items to donate include deodorant, water bottles, puzzles, body wash, sponges, sports bags, elastic hair ties, dental floss, lip balm hand sanitizer, stuffed animals, shampoo, and toothpaste. To view the Amazon wish list, click here. Whatever is purchased will be sent directly to the girls, so they can fill the bags.

In planning for their proposed Silver Award project, the four Cadette Girl Scouts from Girl Scout Troop 713, Service Unit 48 met with Michael Licata, former director of Suffolk County’s Child Placement Bureau on Jan. 11.

During the meeting, the girls, Alison Clare, Maggie Hua, Karen Jackson and Alexa LaValle learned more about the county’s foster care system. The seventh-graders posed heartfelt questions to Licata, who gave them life-altering information them about foster families; how children enter into the foster care system; the needs of foster children; and statistics related to the foster care system in Suffolk County.

Additionally, the girls aim to film a promotional video that will be used to attract new foster families, Jackson said.