STERLING — A group of local Girls Scouts is proving that you’re never too young to give back to your community.
Brownie Troop 65179 is hosting a food drive as part of its Take Action journey badge. Collection boxes are set up at five locations: Conant Public Library, Lanpher’s Market, and MEM Dance Theatre in Sterling, Kate’s PowerHouse in Princeton, and Orchard Hills Athletic Club in Lancaster.
Nonperishable food items and pet food can be dropped off through May 31. The girls will deliver the donations to the Wachusett Food Pantry on June 2.
“We thank the … businesses for partnering with us to help ease food insecurity in our community,” Courtney Mankus, one of the troop’s program leaders, posted on social media. “Let’s show these girls what happens when a community comes together for a good cause!”
The dozen second grade girls in the troop voted to work on the Brownie Quest Journey this year instead of working on individual badges. The journey consists of earning three keys in order to unlock the final Brownie Quest badge.
“The third key, and final step before putting all three keys together for the Quest badge, is the Take Action key,” Mankus said. “To earn this, the girls needed to come up with a Take Action project — something they could do to improve the world and their own community.”
The young humanitarians are no stranger to giving back. Last year as Daisies they donated a portion of the total boxes of cookies they sold as a troop to the Wachusett Food Pantry, and took a field trip to drop off the cookies in person.
“The girls learned that some of the items the pantry needs most are boxes of cereal and pet food, so they decided then to do a cereal and pet food drive within the troop, and we made another donation of those items collected,” Mankus said. “This is when they first learned about food insecurity and the fact that it impacts our very own community.”
She and the other program leaders — Caitlyn Leary and Alanna Malatos — have assisted the girls with their projects, along with troop treasurer Sarah Boffoli and Melissa Trimbly, whom Mankus said is their “shopper/helper/first aid leader.” All of them have daughters in the troop and enjoy being part of shaping their efforts.
“This year, when brainstorming what they could do to take action within the community, the idea of doing a larger food drive to help our friends at the food pantry and make it bigger by including the community was born,” Mankus said. “The girls agreed it was the project they wanted to do, so we spent a meeting making signs and got help from parents to reach out to businesses in the community to find hosts for our collection boxes.”
She said it’s important to her and the other parents involved in the troop to help facilitate community outreach projects such as this for the girls to be involved in.
“Showing the girls that they can make a difference and that their actions can have an impact will empower them to become leaders in our community as they become older,” Mankus said. “Community is important to Girl Scouts, and by doing a project like this, our girls can get a better understanding of what a community is and see how a community can come together to help others.”
