Jefferson County Girl Scouts collected more than 6,900 personal care items during its annual April Showers drive, said Alyssa Shyken, communications coordinator for the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri.
In Jefferson County, 2,139 Girl Scouts took part in the drive last month, going to local homes to drop off bags to be filled with personal care items and then returning the next week to pick up the items residents donated. In all, the girls collected 6,912 items, Shyken said.
In addition, some Girl Scouts collected items outside area stores and businesses.
After the girls collected the donated items, they were delivered to area food pantries, including the Arnold Food Pantry, the Hillsboro Food Pantry, Sister Christine’s Food Pantry at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Imperial, the De Soto Food Pantry, the First Christian Church Food Pantry in Festus, the Murphy Food Pantry and Feed My People.
April Showers is the Girl Scout of Eastern Missouri’s largest service event. The program began in 1998, and since then, Girl Scouts have collected more than 18 million items to help people in need.
