Girl Scouts will send student supplies and “hope” through Katrina relief drive in Sunrise

     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
     Release Date: 9/21/2005
     Press Contact: Lori Sullivan, 954-739-7660, ext. 219
     
     Oakland Park, FL --- On Sunday, October 2 the Girl Scouts of Broward County will join forces with the Florida Panthers, Sunrise Sports & Entertainment, and the Bank Atlantic Center to host a community-wide relief drive in response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Leading up to the 1 p.m. face off between the Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lighting, Girl Scout troops and adult volunteers along with team and corporate staff will collect student supplies and non-perishable food items from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
     
     Game attendees, as well the general public, are invited to visit the Bank Atlantic Center with their donations on October 2. Girl Scout troops are specifically collecting for the students displaced because of the storm. The membership, including 700 local Girl Scout troops, will be coordinating backpacks filled with school supplies such as: notebooks, pens, pencils, markers, colored pencils, calculators, rulers, etc. which will be age and gender specific.
     
     To add a special touch to every backpack that is donated and filled, girls and troops are creating hand-made “hope notes” for each student. These inspirational and heart-felt notes are designed to give children the sense that they are being thought of and cared about from our community.
     
     “The concept of the ‘hope note’ came from our relief task force which was formed just days after we saw the overwhelming destruction on television,” said Girl Scouts of Broward County CEO Leslie Roth. “Our Girl Scouts wanted to harness the power of our 700 troops to offer a community service and something extra special. We are lucky to have partners like the Florida Panthers and Bank Atlantic Center to help bring this important relief effort to life.”
     
     Additionally, collections on October 2 will be held for non-perishable food items that will benefit the Coordinating Council of Broward’s Million Meals Project. With more than 800 families relocating to Broward County, local food pantries need food to replenish dwindling supplies. The response team from the North Carolina-based trucking company, Hearts with Hands, Inc., will provide transportation to towns in Mississippi and Alabama who have welcomed transfer students and families relocating from the hardest hit areas. Volunteers from the Children’s Services Council of Broward County, Volunteer Broward and the Coordinating Council of Broward will all be on hand on October 2 to assist Girl Scouts in their collections.
     
     Girl Scouts of Broward County, Inc. serves more than 9,000 girls and 4,500 adult volunteers. For more information about the Girl Scouts Hurricane Relief Effort on October 2 at the Bank Atlantic Center, contact Phyllis Martin at 954-739-7660, ext. 221 or at pmartin@browardgirlscouts.org or visit www.browardgirlscouts.org.
     
     ###