The seventh and eighth grade Girl Scout Cadettes of Troop 20528 are thanking the community for another successful toy drive.
This year marked the girls’ fifth year collecting toys for children in need. Toys were collected in a box at Learning Express, at a girl scout event, and by tags with specific requests. Although it was slow at first, the troop surpassed last year’s collection. The sixth grade Cadette Girl Scouts of Troop 20915 took on the gift tag portion of the toy drive and organized gifts for children receiving services from the state Division of Child Protection and Permanency (DCPP) in Paterson. All together, the girls collected and distributed 600 toys for children in need. The last delivery of toys was made on December 15 to the Passaic County Women’s Center, which is a domestic violence shelter in Paterson.
In addition to gathering and distributing toys, the girls learned about the children and families they served. This year, the girls spoke with a representative from the Jersey Battered Women’s Center (a domestic violence shelter in Morristown) about the living situation at their shelter. They also met with a representative of CASA Newark to learn about why many of the youth have to be removed from their homes, the cycle of trauma, and what the advocates do to provide support for the children. As they had done in prior years, the girls distributed many gifts through the office of state Sen. Joe Pennacchio.
