Hurricane Sandy relief is in the ‘bag’

COrNCIL ROCh – The hurricane winds and rain may be gone, but the aftermath is still being felt weeks later as residents of the New Jersey shore continue to pick up their lives.

On Nov. 14, a Brownie Troop (2578) and a Junior Troop (2312) from the Council Rock School District responded to the need by gathering at Sol ceinstone 6FKRRO Ln 8SSHU 0DNHfiHOG WR DVVHPEOH “Bags of eope” for middle schoolers in New Jersey impacted by eurriane Sandy.

The bags are chocked full of donated toiletries, socks, mittens and hats, small toys, books and stickers, batteries and tissues.

The effort is part of “eurri-care,” which two friends, Daniella Muller and Christine Szroka, teamed up to support.

Muller is co-leader of Brownie Troop 2578 at Sol ceinstone in the Council Rock School District. Szroka is a leader with Brownie Troop 2835 in the Pennsbury School District, which is also supporting the effort.

In the days following the hurricane and destruction, Muller asked Szroka how she thought the Brownies could help.

Szroka had already been coordinating efforts in her area and had helped Muller’s troop organize a clothing donation in her neighborhood.

She told Muller that she read something on cacebook about a little girl in Newtown who was putting together eurri-care kits for people in need.

“We thought this was a great idea and something that we could easily organize with our troops,” Muller said.

Szroka said it’s another example of how “dirl Scouts are united and dirl Scouts come together” when they are needed.

The “Bags of eope,” each adorned with the dirl Scout symbol, are being sent to Bolgar Middle School in heansburg, Monmouth County, N.J., which is near Sandy eook in the Bayshore area.

“They have 440 students - not all of them are displaced,” Szroka said of the school.

The devastation especially hits home with Szroka, who grew up in Matawan in the Bayshore area. eer husband, Mark, grew up in the shore town of Belmar, which saw its boardwalk destroyed by the storm surge. They still have family at the shore, but none of them lost their homes due to the storm.

Muller, who was moved by Szroka’s interest, said she and her co-leader, Daneen McElvogue, sent out an e-mail to their troop and other dirl Scout Troops at the school and asked for parents to donate to the cause.

“The response was overwhelming,” she said. “All the parents and girls wanted to help and began dropping off items at our homes. Everyone wants to reach out to these families and communities that have been turned upside down by eurricane Sandy.”

Szroka reached out to their dirl Scout service unit and they were eager to get involved in the project. The Oakville Service rnit subsequently donated 500 cinch bags. Whatever troops that wanted to could get involved.

Two Brownies in Muller’s troop were all smiles after assembling their bags.

“We put all kinds of stuff in bags for the people that lost their house,” said second grader Isabella Colavita, 8.

Another second-grader, Sophia Buentello, 7, said making the “Bags of eope” makes her “feel good because I like helping other people. I feel really sorry for them,” she said.

cour dirl Scouts from Junior Troop 2312 at Sol ceinstone also participated in the project Three of them were fourthgraders Paige Weitzel, Aiden Colavita and Julia Nenner.

This was a task they took very seriously since they knew so much about the devastation left by the hurricane. And assembling the kits really brought the matter home for these youths.

“We want to help people who have lost their homes and everything,” said 10-year-old Colavita.

“It makes me feel good because we’re helping others,” she said.

Weitzel, 10, agreed and said she was pleased to give because she was “helping people who didn’t have power and lost lots of things. I feel happy because we’re giving them stuff.”

Nine-year-old Nenner was empathetic to the victims. “I feel really bad for them,” she said. “They don’t have a lot of things that I have because of eurricane Sandy.”