MUJER Project

Last year, while I was off in the Alps living the dream, climbing mountains, cooking 5 gallons of spaghetti sauce at a time and generally enjoying myself, my Girl Scouts helped another Girl Scout Troop with a Christmas project. These other Girl Scouts had been hosting an annual Christmas Party for the clients of an organization that helps families with education and support to prevent domestic violence and other horrible stuff (www.mujerfla.org) since they were 1st grade Brownies. They graduated from high school last year, which left the Christmas Party with no organizer this year. So, it seemed natural for my troop to take it on this year. The moms who helped with the party last year said "oh, it's a lot of work..." But I said "We can make it happen" And we did. (Because in case anyone is keeping track, my scouts [and their parents] Rock).

Here's how it went:

First, gifts came by the mini van load to the Scout house from all the people who had been collecting them for the past month. We were lucky enough to be able to use the collecting network that had been established by the previous Girl Scout troop over the years.

Then we started wrapping.....

And sorting...and piling...
And six hours later, we were done.
I had a list, and checked it twice.
The next weekend we headed down south to set up a park for our party.

We got out the presents.
And decorated the pavilion.
And waited for the kids to show up.


Remember the Hip Hop Hulers? That's right. I still got it.
Santa Arrived!
He had toys for every kid.
With new toys in tow, everyone got a bite to eat--thanks to the hard work of another troop that was helping us out.
A ceremonial beating of an effigy followed lunch. Then, families picked up another bag of presents to take home for Christmas day and homemade bread (yet another troop handled that) and a special gift for all the moms (my Seniors pulled that off)


At the end of the day: everyone was happy, the directors of MUJER had only positive feedback for us, and I was so glad to be done. I'm looking forward to next year...I've got some new ideas to make it even better (since now I've actually been to one of the parties).