By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Girl Scout Troop 11210 donated activity bags to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ellis County and CASA of the High Plains on Friday.
The bags, which they call Kid Kits, are full of activities for boys and girls of all ages. The girls assembled 100 kits. Seventy-five kits went to BBBS, and 25 kits went to CASA.
The Cadette Scouts, including Alyssa Church, 13, Reghan Byer, 13, Morgan Greenwood, 13, and Ava Schumacher, 13, completed the project for their Silver Award, which is the second-highest award in Girl Scouting.
All of the girls attend Thomas More Prep-Marian.
The leaders for the troop are Amy Church and Leann Schumacher.
The girls gathered both monetary donations and donations of items for the bags. They decorated all of the canvas bags by hand.
They solicited the donations by phone, using videos and in person.
Some of the items in the bags included books, tea party sets, craft sets, woodcraft projects, jewelry crafts, Sternberg Museum passes, puzzles, dolls, action figures and stuffed animals.
Jenny Bates, BBBS executive director, said the bags will be given to new matches.
"We are so thankful for these Kid Kits," Bates said. "These girls have worked so hard for these to come together. ...
"It will be a great way for matches to get to know each other and have something to do."
The bags will be used for a similar purpose by the Court Appointed Special Advocates, who are assigned to children who have been removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect.
Silver Award projects are required to be sustainable. The girls plan to approach a younger troop, which they hope will take over the project and keep BBBS and CASA restocked with bags.
"These girls have worked hard," Amy Church said. "We started this project in March with the ideas coming from them. As a group, they decided they wanted to help children. After talking and doing research, this idea just sparked."
The following individuals and companies donated to the project: Randy Sauer (Jammin' Randy), Carla Thomas (Mary and Martha), Lauren McNeil (Once Upon a Time Usborne Books), Personalize it by Rhiannon, High Plains Farm Credit, Nex-Tech, The Niche, Jodi Steltz (Paparazzi Jewelry), Fort Hays State University volleyball, Sternberg Museum, Wal-Mart, Allyson Werth (Farmhouse Crafts), Warrior Motorsports, Brookdale, Home Depot, Larks Baseball, Knights of Columbus, Soroptimist of Hays, Mackenzie Relaford, Tim and Teresa Greenwood, Bryan and Amy Chruch, Chris and Stephanie Byer, and Steve and Leann Schumacher.