COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) - A homeless shelter in western Iowa will be starting a Girl Scouts troop.
Micah House in Council Bluffs will begin holding troop meetings next month, the Omaha World-Herald reported . The shelter received a $1,000 grant from the Pottawattamie Youth Council to start the troop.
Shelter executive director Jaymes Sime was inspired in July after reading about a troop expanding to homeless shelters in New York City.
The Iowa shelter will be among the first outside of New York City to host a troop, according to Antoinette Bernich, chief marketing and communications officer of Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa.
“We are thrilled,” Bernich said. “If it goes well, we would love to replicate it in other shelters.”
The troop will give girls staying at the shelter a place to meet others in their situation, Sime said. The girls will have sashes, be able to earn badges and might even try selling cookies, he said.
“Giving them the opportunity to be part of it could add that confidence and courage for these young girls who’ve experienced a great deal of trauma,” Sime said. “I want them to know that being in the shelter is a life circumstance, but it doesn’t limit their potential.”
The house served more than 130 girls ages 5 to 17 last year.
The troop will give the girls a chance to connect with each other and find role models in the volunteer troop leaders, Bernich said.
The shelter is still working to find volunteer troop leaders before the first meeting.
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Information from: Omaha World-Herald, http://www.omaha.com
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