Glastonbury Girl Scout Troop Provides “Blessing Bags” for ImmaCare clients

Glastonbury Girl Scout Troop #10830 didn’t have to look far to find an organization that could benefit from its first post-pandemic community service project. They partnered with the SS. Isidore and Maria Parish ImmaCare Ministry to make “blessing bags” for ImmaCare clients.

“The blessing bags are designed to be distributed to individuals currently experiencing homelessness,” said troop co-leader and parishioner Meaghan MacDonald. “The gallon-sized Ziploc bags include a few items meant to provide comfort, including new socks, small toiletries, toothbrushes, water, and snacks.”

The sixteen members of Troop 10830 are Girl Scout Juniors in grades 4-5. They come from throughout Glastonbury, and the troop includes both parishioners and non-parishioners. ImmaCare was a program that Meaghan and her family learned about through their participation in parish life.

“We learned about the opportunity to work with ImmaCare through the church.,” said Meaghan via email.”We wanted to provide the girls with a service opportunity that they could do together. They were so excited to pack the bags, energized by the idea that they were helping individuals in our community. They all understood that by working together to create these bags, they would be making a difference for someone in need.”

The troop provided 60 blessing bags to ImmaCare, who plan to distribute them to local unhoused persons. But that is not the end of community service for this troop of motivated girls.

“The girls have so many ideas,” said Meaghan. “They are hoping to do a park clean-up, volunteer at an animal shelter, find more ways to help those in need, and much more. The pandemic prevented us from doing as much as we wanted to over the last few years, and the girls are looking to make up for it.”