Girl Scouts' collection of stuffed animals is on

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Girl Scouts' collection of stuffed animals is on

 

http://www.zwire.com/site/tab5.cfm?newsid=15302608&BRD=2700&PAG=461

 

By Marlys Barker , Nevada Journal

09/29/2005

 

After spending the weekend removing the Girl Scouts' name from posters about a stuffed animal drive for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, a Zearing Girl Scout leader said the Girl Scouts have been given permission to continue doing the drive they announced last week.

 

Zearing Girl Scout leader Shelley Gibbons said she received word Monday afternoon that the Girl Scouts would be allowed to continue the stuffed animal drive. But, Gibbons was still not happy about what had transpired this past week.

 

She said herself and her mother Vickie Williams, a Girl Scout leader in Nevada, had spent the weekend taking the Girl Scout name off of all publicity about the stuffed animal drive after they were ordered to do so by the Moingona Council, which governs the Girl Scout troops in 27 counties of central and southern Iowa.

 

Williams said the reason Girl Scouts were told they could not hold the drive was because this was United Way campaign time, and as Girl Scouts is an organization that receives funding from United Way, it agrees not to do any fund raising during the same time as the annual United Way campaign.

 

Williams said, however, that the Girl Scout leaders didn't believe a drive to collect stuffed animals constituted fund raising, and she felt that an exception could be made because of the national tragedy that had occurred.

 

"It was my granddaughter's idea," Williams said about the drive. Her granddaughter, Brooke Hunter, came up with the idea about how kids here could help kids affected by the hurricane.

 

"The whole idea here was to respond to the tragedy," Williams said. "A lot of kids in the community are having a hard time dealing with this... A lot of kids don't even have their parents. And my granddaughter realizes she always has to have her stuffed animal. It actually makes kids here feel good that they can give their stuffed animal to someone else."

 

Story County United Way officials, contacted Monday, said they had no qualms with the Girl Scouts having a stuffed animal drive, and they expressed this to the Moingona Council. A United Way official did say, however, that the agencies for whom United Way raises funds do agree not to raise funds during the same time period. She said a Girl Scout official said it was the fear of the Girl Scouts governing organization that some people may not have stuffed animals, and would want to donate money to the cause. Therefore, the Girl Scout leaders have been given strict orders to collect stuffed animals "only."

 

"They said we had a one-time pass," Gibbons said about the call she received from the Moingona Council.

 

Gibbons said she knows people will be confused by the publicity that was released, first having the Girl Scouts' name on it and then having that marked out. "There's no way we can spend more time going around putting the Girl Scouts' name on the posters again," she said.

 

Gibbons, who has been either a Girl Scout herself or a leader for the past 20 years, said she has never had this kind of experience in Girl Scouts and she's sad it all transpired. Her daughter had an idea, she said, to do something for children in need, which should be what Girl Scouts strive to do. With or without the Girl Scouts OK, Gibbons said, she would not have let her daughter down. She had already planned to continue the drive as just a "community" event.

 

The boxes are still out at businesses in the eastern Story County communities, and a stuffed animal drive will be held, as previously planned, on Saturday, Oct. 15. Residents are asked to bring stuffed animals on that day to State Bank or Smitty's SuperValu in Nevada from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

 

Williams said the Girl Scouts are working with a trucking company that has agreed to deliver the stuffed animals to the Gulf region to a battered women's shelter and to the Red Cross. She said some of the stuffed animals will stay in Iowa for hurricane victims who have relocated to the state.

 

Gibbons wanted to thank the Story County United Way for its understanding and support of what the Girl Scouts wanted to do. Thanks, they say, is also given to the businesses who are serving as collection sites for the animals, and to Ben Franklin in Nevada which donated two boxes of brand new Boyd's Bears to the drive.