As their community service project for the 2017-2018 Girl Scout year Brownie Troop 1423 of Jacksonville, Maryland brainstormed, voted, and decided to give back to their community by collecting used toys and distributing them to children in need.

To help them achieve their goals, the troop teamed up with Second Chance Toys (SCT), a non-profit that helps rescue gently used toys for children in need. They collect clean plastic toys with no small or missing pieces and with working batteries.  Their motto is “Helping Kids and the Environment.” SCT helps the environment by keeping plastic toys out of the landfills and helps kids by pairing groups with local organizations looking for toy donations.  Troop 1423 was paired with The Board of Child Care.

To maximaze their impact, the girls decided to involve their school peers in this collection, which coincided with Earth Day awareness and their Green School initiative.  They passed out flyers to all of the classrooms, made announcements and placed bins in their front lobby for a two week collection period.  Once collected the girls cleaned all of the toys and prepared them for donation.

In total, they were able to donate over 120 gently used plastic toys to the Board of Child Care.  The toys will be used as birthday presents for children staying at the facilities and used for their Christmas store where the kids get to go “shopping” for their siblings and family members.

Way to go Troop 1423! By helping kids and the environment through your toy collection and donation you’ve demonstrated your G.I.R.L. (Go-getter, Innovator, Risk-taker, Leader)™ power to change the world!

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