OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD

Our Girl Scouts never fail to overflow their generous hearts to bless others in need. This is our second year participating in Operation Christmas Child (OCC) as a troop service project. But when we really think about it, participating in OCC really goes beyond "service" for our girls. Operation Christmas Child is a mission to help fulfill their desire to help other other children and make the world a better place. OCC brings joy and the message of Christmas to children in 130 different countries who are in poverty situations.

For this troop meeting we began with our OCC project. The girls collectively brought items to donate to a variety of shoe boxes for boys and girls ranging in ages 2-14 years old. (see THIS POST for the details).

This year, we filled a total of 17 boxes!!! Here is the break down of what the girl filled~

Girl Boxes (12 total):
age 2-4 = Four (4) Boxes
age 5-9 = Two (2) Boxes
age 10-14= Six (6) Boxes

Boy Boxes (5 total):
age 2-4 = One (1) Box
age 5-9 = Two (2) Boxes
age 10-14 = Two (2) Boxes

THANK YOU PARENT AND LEADER VOLUNTEERS!!! You're help was HUGE!
~Lisa ~Novia ~Kristi ~Tammy ~Noemi ~Mandy ~Holly ~Stephanie ~Irma ~Rae Marie ~Jessica

And, THANK YOU, NOEMI for bringing the SNACK and DRINK this week!

Getting everything fit into the boxes was like putting a puzzle together!


...each item placed in the boxes with love...

Once the girls got the boxes filled by gender and age, the group gathered around the table of gifts in a circle, held hands hands with each other, while an adult led the girls in a word of prayer over the boxes~

"Thank you God for this opportunity to help make a difference in the lives of other children all over the world and help make the world a better place!

Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ… it’s a time to honor His birthday. And as we all know, when it’s someone’s “Birthday”, it is a tradition to give them gifts. Today we come together as a Girl Scout troop to give Jesus a birthday gift. We are participating in Operation Christmas Child to give these gifts with joy, love, and a spirit of goodness. The children receiving these gifts, are receiving them in honor of Christmas, Jesus’ Birthday. When Jesus was alive, He told his friends “when you give to the poor, give to the hungry, give to people in need, it’s the same as giving to me” (paraphrased from Matthew 25:40) May each gift we send be a blessing to each child receiving them and may these little ones who receive these gifts experience the true spirit of Christmas this year and always! May God bless them and their families. In Jesus’ name we pray… AND EVERY ONE SAY~ AMEN.”

Troop #9691,

YOU ROCK!!!

Since she missed the troop meeting, leader, Teri, double checked the boxes at her house to make sure all the soap bars and hard candy were placed in individual zip-lock bags before we turned them in to OCC.

The Daisy girls made cards at a previous troop meeting for the children (only two examples are shown)

...and a picture of the troop (above) was also included.

Labels were printed with a bar code for tracking; they were secured with shipping tape on each of the 17 boxes.

Sometime in the month of January, we will find out what countries our 17 boxes were sent to.

When I phoned OCC to inquire about how we properly "follow our boxes"(because last year we never found out where they went), the lady I talked to was real sweet. She was able to look it up and I was informed that last year, ALL 10 of our boxes were sent to Mexico and blessed children in our neighboring country~ apparently an email was probably sent, and I now suspect it ended up in my spam folder. This year I'll watch for the email since I know to expect it!

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/Mexico/

Thank you Girl Scout families for your support with this project!

The girls are learning some important life lessons through OCC project! Ask your Girl Scout what they learned. Let them know how proud you are of them for their commitment to making the world a better place in all they do through Girl Scouts.

Learning about Camp Fire Safety... and Singing Songs

... and having a fun time, too! Camp fires, singing song, and telling stories when camping... a girl scout tradition!

Before we ventured outside to build our campfire, our Girl Scouts learned "Camp Fire Safety" by building their own Edible Campfire (idea found HERE). We went step by step building our edible campfire, discussing what we'll need to do and NOT do when we are at our real camp fire outside. A Camp Fire "Fun Patch" was earned for our camp fire time.

Our "Edible Camp Fire"

Do's:
Keep long hair pulled back in a pony tail
Stay behind the fire ring of rocks
Enjoy our time singing songs and having fun
Put out the fire with water, followed by burying it with dirt
Be safe and follow rules

Don't:
Go past the fire ring without an adult
Throw anything in the fire
Go on the side where smoke is blowing
Be unsafe

Girl Scout, Lacy, holding our "talking stick", (made from a feather duster, decorated with ribbon and beads) sharing a funny story...

Songs led by Daisy Girl Scout Leader, and "Master of Ceremony", Kristi. Leader, Teri, gives thumbs up for a great time!

World Thinking Day 2010 Kick Off

Our troop meeting this week kicked off World Thinking Day 2010 which is officially February 22. The World Thinking Day theme for 2010 is girls worldwide say "together we can end extreme poverty and hunger" ; the aim is to raise awareness among everyone about the situation and improve the lives of the poorest people in the world.

Our first activity was a game that Girl Scouts in Zimbabwe play called "Cabbage".

The girls wander around the room and when the leaders calls out ‘Cabbage!’, all the players must curl up in a tight ball like a cabbage and close their eyes. The leader covers one of the players with a blanket then asks the other players to open their eyes. The players must work out which player is under the blanket. The first one to call out the right name is the winner! Since we have a large group of girls we covered two girls with a blanket per game.

After our fun game we sat down and got serious, discussing this year's World Thinking Day theme of extreme poverty and hunger in the world.

• Every 3.6 seconds one person dies of starvation. Usually it is a child under the age of 5.


• More than 30 per cent of children in developing countries – about 600 million – live on less than US $1.25 a day.


• Basic needs such as a house to live in, food to eat, fresh water to drink, and a place to bath or go "potty" are not met in areas of extreme poverty.

We broke into groups by level and viewed photos of extreme poverty. The girls were to look at each picture and share what they saw and how they felt. This was a somber time, but a time the girls saw with their eyes what poverty looks like and hopefully realize the truth the people live without the things we so easily take for granted. When we got back together in our large group we re-capped our observations. Ask your Girl Scout what they learned and how they felt when they saw these pictures.

Fun, but not funny...

The leaders (Novia and Lisa) constructed a shack made of cardboard to show the girls the reality that many families in other countries live in houses they construct out of whatever they can find to provide them shelter. These shacks have no electricity, no running water and are built straight on the dirt (no foundation). In times of a storm, these shelters are very unstable.

The girls had fun getting their picture taken in our "shack", but the reality of people in this world actually living this way is not funny (the girls realize this). The girls all have big hearts and realize how blessed they are to have their basic needs and much more met.

At the end of our troop meeting, Junior Girl Scout, Karrah, shared her personal story of living in extreme poverty when she was an orphan in Russia. She was adopted around age two, but as an infant and toddler, she lived in conditions that were extreme. She shared with the girls how thankful she is for "FAMILY" and that "stuff" doesn't matter... the love of family and having basic needs met are what's most important. Karrah... thank you for sharing your personal experience.