Girl Scouts spearhead successful donation program for seniors

Thanks to a donation drive by the Lincoln Girl Scouts, 28 bags “full to the brim” with donated items will be distributed to needy seniors in Lincoln, said Council on Aging Director Carolyn Bottum.

The Scouts teamed up with the Lincoln Council on Aging to host a holiday gift basket drive during the weeks before Thanksgiving to benefit homebound, frail, and economically disadvantaged seniors living in Lincoln. The Scouts collected donations of toiletries, cleaning supplies, socks, and helpful household items that COA staff will deliver on home visits. Many other Lincoln residents donated items to the COA as well.

For two weeks, the girls stood in the foyer of the Lincoln School during arrival time to greet and solicit participation from their peers,. They also made morning announcements on the PA system to the school and even spent an afternoon outside Donelan’s getting the word out to local residents.

The hands-on, goal-oriented project taught Scouts marketing and social skills even as they learned about the importance of giving back—and they were impressed by the amount of donations they collected. During the “sorting party,” one girl exclaimed “We did this! Because of us, over 40 homes will get a beautiful gift basket with all this stuff!”

This was the second year that the COA has assembled gift bags but the first in which the Girl Scouts played a leading role. Girl Scout troop leader Tomasina Lucchese noted that the group is thankful to the entire community and especially the COA “for all the wonderful work they do all year round.”