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Scouts help residents send gifts to soldiers
(by Megan Burrow - October 07, 2008)
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Photograph Courtesy Of Julie Cochrane
Members of Girl Scout Troop 425 of River Vale recently visited the residents of the Jewish Home for Assisted Living to pack gift bags for New Jersey soldiers serving overseas. The items were collected from the surrounding community and will be delivered to a River Vale resident currently serving as a Lieutenant Colonel in Iraq.
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Girl Scout Troop 425 of River Vale and the residents of the Jewish Home for Assisted Living teamed up last Thursday to pack up gift bags for soldiers serving overseas in Iraq.
The 15 girl scouts, all fifth graders at Roberge School, gathered around a table and helped the women of JHAL fill bags with items such as deodorant, toothpaste, books, shaving products, hand lotions, hand made cards and baked goods.
It was a boisterous scene as the children and seniors worked together to fill the bags. When they were finished the group sang patriotic songs and several of the seniors had heartfelt words of thanks for the girl scouts.
It was the culmination of JHAL’s “adopt-a-soldier” program in which each senior sends gifts and cards to a soldier serving overseas.
Julie Cochrane, the director of programming at JHAL, said that the center has been collecting the items for the past month from the seniors and also the larger community. “We have had an amazing outpouring of donations for the soldiers,” she said. “Most of the stuff has come from residents in the community.”
The gift bags will be sent to a River Vale resident currently serving as a Lieutenant Colonel in Iraq who will distribute the items to the 2,800 soldiers with him, all New Jersey residents serving in the National Guard. The brigade was deployed to Texas in July and left for Iraq at the end of August.
Maria Jasionowski, one of three leaders of troop 425 along with Renee Berlamino and Tina Kopac, said the girls have been together since kindergarten. This is the second time the girls have come to JHAL to visit with the seniors and the troop is planning to return sometime this winter.
Megan Burrow's e-mail address is burrow@northjersey.com.
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