Two troops from SU 15 and a troop,  from SU 12 sent supplies  to a school in Senegal that basically has nothing. The families  can barely afford yearly tuition for their children which amounts approximately to $2.00 US dollars.

The girls from Troop 213 asked family, friends and their teachers for donations of school supplies. They also used some of their profits from cookie sales they designated to service projects. They had a goal to collect a 100 school supplies, but exceeded that goal by several 100!

Troop 236 participated as part of our “100 things for the 100th Anniversary” project. They sent at least 100 pencils and 100 glue sticks along with scissors, notebooks, and stickers.

 Anne, was the Senegal contact, she sent the following note and photos of the day they gave all the school supplies to the kids in her village.

 Here is Anne’s note:

Handing over the packages was really fun. The teachers started opening them up, and before long the kids (being unsupervised, since all the teachers were opening packages!) started crowding around. Everyone was exclaiming over everything, all very excited – it was so cute! The kids loved seeing photos of Visalia and the scouts who had sent them this stuff. After everything had been unpacked the teachers immediately started counting every single pencil and crayon. They did the math and figured that they could start by giving each and every student three crayons and one pencil, which they did, going from classroom to classroom. Kids started trading pencils and crayons for colors they liked better, and held them up for pictures.

 

The teachers decided to save some of the other stuff, and give them as gifts to good students at the end of the year, as well as prizes in an upcoming games day.

 

A lot of the supplies, like glue and colored pens and pencils, have never been seen in the school. I expect an increase in craft projects! I have to tell you that everyone was very thankful, and kept telling me what a good and generous people you are, and the scouts. So, from the Bira Elementary school, thank you a million times! It really was an amazing thing, and it helps inspire excitement in students who, otherwise, have access to very little in the way of supplies.

Pictures sent from Anne: