It was gratifying to witness the service projects of two Morrison, IL, Scout groups on Monday, April 15, 2013. Members of Girl Souts of the USA and Boy Scouts of America share program, recognition, leadership, and service similarities. Locally, both met the same evening, in rooms next to each other, at Morrison United Methodist Church, 200 W. Lincolnway, Morrison, IL. Even at young ages, both are taught to serve the needs of others in their activities.
Nine third grade Girl Scout Brownies in troop 5294 are led by Becky Albrecht and Laura Wilson. During their recent cookie sale, citizens also were encouraged to donate boxes to military personnel; 204 boxes were purchased for that purpose. The 17 cases included Do-si-dos, Samoas, Savannah Smiles, Tagalongs, Thin Mints, and Trefoils.
Posing left-to-right with the tasty donations were, front row, Kate and Haley; middle row, top sellers Allison–who sold 61 boxes–and Corrine–who sold 100; back row, Lorilee, Macy, Tanna, and Riley. Jessica was not present.
U. S. Army Recruiter Alex Angell, who is based out of the Rock Falls, IL, Armory, was to collect the boxes that evening.
The girls worked on another service project, donating 700 bookmarks to the local schools. First, they had to apply 700 labels with the Girl Scout Brownie troop number. That was an average of 87.5 bookmarks per girl! If time allowed, they would start a Father’s Day art project.
The next room contained results of the boys’ annual service project–a food drive to benefit Morrison Friends Food Pantry. Boy Scouts of America Cub Scout Pack 328 had covered tables with 337 donated food and houshold products, which they had collected at Sullivan’s Foods, Dollar General, and Family Dollar Store, on Saturday, April 8. They also received $254 in cash donations.
MFFP volunteers moved the goods across the hall into the Food Pantry, sorting as they went. There, labels were trimmed of premiums, such as Boxtops for Education.
Pack 328 has four Cub Scout age divisions, called Dens. Tiger Scouts are in first grade; Wolves are in second; Bears are in third; Webelos are fourth and fifth graders. There are 41 boys in the pack led by Linda Lee Anderson, shown below.
Eric Anderson, shown below with his wife, stated that his Boy Scout Troop 96 held their food drive from Thursday, February 28, through Saturday, March 2. They collected $106 in cash and “had a roomful” of items–853! There are 11 active Boy Scouts, ranging in age from 11 to 17.
During the 7:00 p.m. meeting, they would register for summer fun at Camp Lowden near Oregon, IL.
