Service is an important part of the Girl Scout philosophy, and all troops and groups are encouraged to seek out opportunities for service. Projects may involve helping other people, animals or our environment. It can be a fantastic opportunity for girls to make new acquaintances and to experience the wonderful world of giving.

Annual Migrant Program Book Drive

EHC LifeBuilders

HOPE Good Turn Days

Second Harvest Food Bank

Sew for Love

To Kids From Kids

Tony La Russa's Animal Rescue Foundation Holiday Pet Food Drive

Click here for information about planning your own service project!

Click here for council-wide service projects!

Annual Migrant Program Book Drive

Help support Girl Scout Migrant programs for girls ages 5-17 and their families by being part of our annual book drive. These books will help promote literacy, build community and make a difference in the lives of these girls and families.

Half Moon Bay School Year Program

This program serves girls through programming during school breaks and after school.   Through a partnership with the Mid Peninsula Housing we are able to reach girl’s whose  families work in agriculture on the Coast.   Last year the girls were able to go on several different trips including bowling, Coyote Point, The Tech Museum and a Giant’s game.  The older girls have started a book club on their own and are looking for sets of books for their club.  If interested in sponsoring a book club  set,  please contact Bree Ponce, bponce@girlscoutsnorcal.org

San Martin and Gilroy Summer Program

With a strong 20 year history, this program delivers 11 weeks of activities during the summer at three sites under the leadership of GSNC adult staff who are from the migrant community. The program seeks to develop positive peer and family relationships through literacy-based activities focused on conflict resolution, stress management, building healthy relationships, problem solving, diversity, and feelings. Parents also attend parenting classes and parent-child nights to increase healthy family communication.

Book Drive: April 15-30

Drop-Off: May 1-31

Convenient Drop-Off Locations Near You:

Girl Scout Office	1310 S. Bascom Ave,  San Jose 95128	(408) 287-4170	www.girlscoutsnorcal.org
The Reading Bug	785 Laurel St,  San Carlos 94070	(650) 591-0100	www.thereadingbug.com
BookSmart	80 East 2nd St, Morgan Hill  95037	(408) 778-6467	www.mybooksmart.com
Garlic City Books	7490 Monterey St, Gilroy  95020	(408) 842-2665	www.garliccitybooks.com

Each book store listed will provide a 10% discount on books purchased for donation. For more information, click here to view the flyer and click here for a list of recommended books.

 

EHC LifeBuilders 

EHC LifeBuilders is passionately committed to ending homelessness by providing a wide variety of comprehensive solutions to help people overcome the obstacles in their lives. From shelter and long-term housing to homelessness prevention and supportive services, EHC LifeBuilders match people with the right kinds of opportunities for assistance to help them succeed.

Join us in our second annual Winter Warm-Up Drive to support homeless adults in Santa Clara County by providing the opportunity to keep warm this winter season.

Winter Warm-Up Drive - Jan 3 - Jan 31

• Girls collect adult size new socks and blankets.
• Deliver donations to the San Jose Girl Scout office or EHC LifeBuilders.
• Spread the word to those in your family, troop and community.

For more information about dates, drop-off locations and more click here for the Winter Warm-Up flyer. For Brownies through Ambassadors, check out our council's own patch program "Homelessness Awareness."

HOPE Good Turn Days 

Join us for the 11th annual HOPE Good Turn Days service project. During the 2010 drive, we collected over 2,630 bags of used clothes. Thank you to the 105 Girl Scout troops who participated, including the 557 new participants and 228 continuing participants.

HOPE “Good Turn Days” - November 1-30, 2011

• Girls collect bags of clothing from family, friends, neighbors.
• Filled bags can be dropped of at any HOPE site.
• Troop leaders can also call Elizabeth at (408) 748-2874 if you prefer the bags picked up from your home.
• Girl Scouts receive a “HOPE Good Turn Days” patch for returning three or more filled bags.

For more information about dates, drop-off locations and more click here for the HOPE flyer. Troop leaders can use this tally sheet to keep track of donations and patches.

HOPE is always accepting donations so please consider helping out through out the year.

When you donate used clothing and other household items during the HOPE Good Turn Days, it helps more than 3,000 persons with developmental disabilities at HOPE Services. 

HOPE provides work training, job placement, supported living, developmental activities and more to children, adults and seniors in Santa Clara County and other Bay Area locations.

Second Harvest Food Bank

Thank you for supporting our annual food drive. Last year we collected 662 pounds of food through the collection at the San Jose Girl Scout office and 3,919 pounds of food at Winterfest. This year, Wintefest will kick off the food collection drive. 

Canned food can be dropped of to the San Jose office between Dec 1 - Dec 10.  

Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties has been providing services to the community since 1974. They are the single largest nonprofit provider of food to low-income households in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties and the second largest food bank in the country. 

The Food Bank needs nutritious, non-perishable foods:

• Meals in a can (stew, chili, soup)
• Tuna and canned meat
• Peanut butter
• Canned foods with pop-top lids
• Low-sugar cereals
• 100% fruit juices in single serving boxes
• Canned fruit packed in juice
• Canned vegetables (low salt)

Sew For Love

Is a weekend long sewing marathon in February to create much-needed items for the community within Santa Clara County. Troops and individuals participate for a few hours or as long as they want to make as many tote bags, blankets, clothing, bedding, and toys as they can in one weekend. This event creates thousands of items to benefit many organizations serving the public.

How Your Troop Can Participate
No sewing skills required. Your troop can sign up for one sewing session, a few, a whole day or both days. This is for grades 7-12 and adults. Individuals welcome.

Click here for more information.

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To Kids From Kids

Our Girl Scout holiday service project is sponsored by the Girl Scouts of Northern California (GSNC). Since 1985, To Kids From Kids has reached out to children, newborn to 18 years old, who have been physically and/or emotionally abused or neglected. With the efforts of many volunteers, these children are ensured a gift during the winter holidays. The annual cycle of this project begins with girl training, builds with the collection of new, quality gifts and culminates in the project's packing day (Distribution Day).

Girl Participation
All girls, all levels are welcome. Depending on the individual or troop involvement this service project can offer an array of benefits including: daily money management, team building, goal setting, decision-making, building on creativity, enhancing writing, cutting, and designing skills.

In addition to above, Cadette, Senior and Ambassador Girl Scouts can also sign up to volunteer on the project's Distribution Day. Older girls are encouraged to take greater responsibility with each succeeding year. Older girls who take their role to a broader level are part of the "Team Coordinating Board" and can improve their leadership and organizational skills, develop the ability to confort and problem solve, and gain communication and presentation knowledge.

County Projects
Projects can vary depending on whether or not a county chair has been secured. Ultimately, To Kids From Kids strides to ensure the project is hosted in its existing five counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo.

County Chair Opportunities
To Kids From Kids is a short-term project beginning October 1 to mid-December each year. Registered adult Girl Scouts volunteer to oversee the project in their county. Interested in hosting an existing project or beginning To Kids From Kids in your county, contact us.

Project Needs
Gifts to provide to the social workers for the children included on their caseload. Without the contributions received To Kids From Kids would clearly never exist. It is solely through individual and troop donations as well as arrangements for collection drop boxes that enable us to brighten the holidays for so many abused children.

Contact Us Via
Website: www.galarc.com/gs/tkfk
Representative: Sydney Greenberg

Tony La Russa's Animal Rescue Foundation Holiday Pet Food Drive

November 25, 2011 to December 30, 2011

Collect food for pets whose guardians are going through tough economic times. Hungry dogs and cats will thank you! Wet or dry cat and dog food is needed, as long as it is unexpired and unopened.

Drop off all pet food at ARF:
2890 Mitchell Drive
Walnut Creek, CA

Check out ARF's website at http://arf.net/animal-programs/foodshare/holiday-drive.php for tips on how to host a successful drive.

Contact Kim Tarman or Gaye McDuff at 925-256-1273 ext. 473 or write them at holidayfoodshare@arf.net with any questions.

Click here to view the flyer

Blue Star Moms

The Blue Star Moms are mothers who now have, or have had, children honorably serving in the military. The Blue Star moms can use help with putting care packages together, they are always looking for donations for their care packages, writing letters and notes being encouraging and showing support, and cash donations. for more specific help and ideas, the troop or the girls can contact a local chapter of Blue Star Moms. They can find their local chapter by going on to http://www.bluestarmoms.org/

 

 

 

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