Chelsea Girl Scouts Pack 1,400 Meals for Washtenaw County Residents

Photo by Marissa Streelman

“Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place,” is the Girl Scout Mission. For Troop 40855, they are learning just that and more thanks to their fearless leaders, Christie Baker and Danielle Cupka.

Maybe you have seen the girls sell Girl Scout cookies around town or the gold pumpkins in Chelsea’s businesses. The “Gold Pumpkins for the Cure” made a difference to help fight childhood cancer. These are the girls. Most recently, this group had a remarkable opportunity to provide 1,400 meals to Washtenaw County residents in need of food or assistance. This was all done by the 16 girls in the troop, their families, and their leaders, who have been Troop leaders for 2 and 3 years, respectively.

This all began when Baker shared the idea with Danielle. ”I came across it on an outreach post from Food Gatherers, which requested meals for their Lunches with Love program. Danielle is an expert on rallying the troops!”

At an after-school Troop meeting, the 4th-grade girls decorated brown bags and then packed shelf-stable lunches as a team. It turned out that they packed 110 lunches with items provided by the girls’ families. The troop knew they were going to travel to Food Gatherers in Ann Arbor for their next meeting to deliver their thoughtfully packed lunches. “With the task at hand and completing a reflection packet, this would lead the Troop to receive the Junior Rescue Badge, an honorary badge,” said Cupka. Little did they know the significant impact they would actually make.

Introducing Brooklyn and Karen DeVries. A daughter and mother duo who posted on a Chelsea Facebook group asking for bottles to return so they could add a monetary contribution to the lunches packed by the girls. Karen’s Facebook notifications lit up. “We came up with the idea to collect cans and return for the deposit,” stated DeVries. “…I was happy to pick up donations.”

The community was very giving in assisting with the mother and daughter’s idea. The DeVries took many trips around the city and stores for bottle returns. Other Girl Scout families soon began to designate a drop-off location and started returning bottles as well. Quickly, $100 was achieved, then $300. The excitement grew, and the bottles kept pouring in. The Troop continued to deposit. “I couldn’t believe it!” added DeVries, “The total numbers kept going up and up.” The excitement through the group text among families grew. The time was coming to present the lunches and visit the Food Gatherers’ warehouse. But, how much money would the girls be able to gather?

On Wednesday, November 19th, families met the Scouts at South Meadows Elementary School. With the lunches and the Troop securely loaded, they were off to Food Gatherers. After a quick debriefing with the Food Gatherers staff, the girls were given certificates to honor their work. It was announced that they “collected an incredible $574.26 from their pop bottle drive!” exclaimed Cupka. From the Food Gatherers’ calculations between the money donated and the 110 lunches’ weight, this would be a total of 1,400 lunches for people in need. “The girls and I are very, very proud!” Cupka happily added.

For a more in-depth understanding of how the program works, Food Gatherers gave a personal tour through their warehouse. The guide explained the importance of each area within the building and the work that the Food Gatherers Volunteers do to provide for the county. For Troop 40855, the project provided a hands-on way to contribute to local hunger-relief efforts.

For more information, please visit their websites: www.foodgatherers.org and mygs.girlscouts.org