Joining the Girl Scouts is a great way for young women to learn independence and life skills.
Not to mention all those delicious cookies! The organization aims to help girls gain confidence and pride in themselves, and troops are organized by location. What about girls who don’t have a stable home, though? Enter Girl Scout Troop 6000, which is helping homeless girls achieve their dreams and start down the path to a better life.
All the members of Girl Scout Troop 6000 live in a New York City homeless shelter in Queens. They have members from brownies all the way up to cadettes.
Girl Scouts of Greater New York is covering the cost for the girls, including the membership fee, a starter kit of patches, pins, workbooks and vests, and monthly dues. Donations are also accepted for the 25-member troop.
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Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who represents the district that houses the shelter, has been incredibly supportive of the troop. He even brought them to City Hall!
“They are our future engineers, fashion designers, athletes, doctors, activists, and community leaders. With Troop 6000, these girls now have a place to realize these dreams, find stability, make lifelong friends, and discover the strength they have inside to be whoever they want to be,” Van Bramer said in a statement.
Having a troop number to rally around has been helpful for so many of the girls. One member, Karina, said, “We’re like a pack. If one of us is down the rest of us will be there to pick them back up.”
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“Every girl in the five boroughs of New York City deserves a chance to reach her full potential: to have her eyes opened to possibilities for college and careers, to make loving and supportive friends, to learn from caring female mentors, and to chart her own course to achieve her goals,” said a statement from Girl Scouts of Greater New York. “That’s what Troop 6000 is all about.”
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(via CNN)