Chatham Girl Scouts 2021 Day of Service
Submitted by Ceal Purschke, Troop Leader
On Saturday March 6, 2021, Chatham Girl Scouts of all ages, ranging from Daisy to Ambassador level, gathered for their annual Day of Service. This year the Day of Service was a drive-through food drive with an initial goal of 1200 pounds but by the end of the day a total of 6500 pounds had been collected, consisting of countless necessary items for the Chatham United Methodist Church’s (CUMC) community food pantry.
The annual Day of Service is a culmination of a year of Chatham Girl Scouts focusing on the issue of hunger and how they can make a difference. Throughout this year, troops have continued to hold meetings despite the challenges of COVID-19, and 68% of all Chatham Girl Scouts supported various community service projects related to hunger. Troops conducted food drives in their school, neighborhoods, caroled for cans, used cookie funds to donate produce boxes as well as Ambassador troop 81981 used their troop funds to build the CUMC outdoor food pantry that exists today. Daisy troop leader Laura Bojanowski made a significant contribution to the weekly Wednesday food distribution behind CUMC by creating a signup to make sustainable lunches available each week. Since May Laura has spearheaded the supply of over 5,160 sustainable lunches from Chatham Girl Scouts, Chatham High School National Honor Society and Key Clubs, Cub Scouts, Chatham Methodist preschool families, Junior League of Summit, and generous residents.
This year’s Day of Service drive-through food drive ran from 10:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. and featured socially distanced carnival games run by older Girl Scouts. Younger scouts were able to safely participate in the games from their cars as a reward for all of the hard work they have put in during this difficult year of Girl Scouts. As the food piled up, volunteers and scouts were kept busy unloading cars, greeting donors, sorting groceries, and stocking the storage room and outdoor pantry. The constantly rising tally of groceries collected kept everyone motivated and spirits high on the cold winter day.
Nobody can phrase our thanks better than CUMC pastor Jeff Markay. He said “We are humbled by the outpouring of support, compassion, and leadership that surrounded our community food pantry. Thank you to all scouts for coming together and showing how to love your neighbor. Like our shelves and storage, our hearts are full. We are grateful.”
