Brownies in Attenborough have been busy packing up ‘birthday boxes’ for children whose cash-strapped families struggle to put on a birthday celebration.
The 19 members of 4th Attenborough Brownie Unit – all aged between 7 and 10 – have packed eight shoe-boxes with party-themed goodies, raising over £100 to fund the project themselves by filling empty Smarties tubes with coins.
Splitting into teams, the Brownies decided on the contents of each box and whether it would be for a boy or girl, making sure to include a cake tin, cake mix and icing. ‘It was a really useful exercise in working out how far their money would go and how to shop responsibly in our local supermarket,’ says Brownie Leader Sarah Cooke. The girls also made birthday cards and decorated the boxes.
The Brownies’ birthday boxes have now been delivered to the food bank at the Haven Centre on Wadsworth Road in Stapleford, from where they will be distributed to local families.
‘Our Brownies are very pleased to feel they are helping other children celebrate their special days, and it’s been rewarding for the Leaders to see how seriously the girls have taken this challenge’ says Sarah.
The Brownie units in Attenborough are hoping to recruit more adult volunteers from the local community in order to keep opportunities like this open to as many girls as possible. Anyone interested in helping – even if only on an occasional basis – is invited to contact Sarah Cooke at the_4th_attenborough_brownies@yahoo.co.uk
