Richmond Hill Girl Scouts Helping Haiti Earthquake Victims

RICHMOND HILL, Ga. -- The devastation in Haiti after last month's earthquake has motivated a group of Girl Scouts to start their own relief efforts. The troop is collecting personal care supplies to send to the victims.

The Junior Girl Scout Troop 30270 spent Thursday night sorting flyers and making signs to help the people of Haiti.

"There's some people at my mom's work that they have their own planes and they fly things to Haiti. They fly relief to Haiti, and what they said that Haiti needed was personal care items, so we decided to collect personal care items for the victims," said 11 year-old Natalie GaNun, one of the members of the troop.

The eight girls in the Richmond Hill troop have spent the last couple of weeks organizing the supply drive, which they're using to earn the Girl Scout Bronze Award.

The girls, Brittany Tyson, Emily Perry, Hannah Yontz, Jaime Harkness, Katherine Wood, Natalie GaNun, Sophie Giorgianni, and Tacy Altvater, are working about 15 hours each on the project.

Troop leaders said this has been a hands-on way of showing the girls the importance of serving others.

"The girls are really growing in their character and their confidence and their courage. They have really come together as a team and worked on this project together and they've grown and each girl has done her own part," said Natalie's mom Shannon GaNun.

"You can't just look at yourself in your own little part of the world. You have a responsibility to be a good citizen and to pay attention to what's going on around you and take care of people if you see something that needs to be done," said Claudine Altvater, whose daughter Tacy is in the troop.

The girls hope the community will show their support by donating items for those in need.

"You basically help others and you think about others, you think about them more, before yourself," said Natalie.

They're collecting the following items:
• toothpaste
• toothbrushes
• mouthwash
• washcloths
• towels
• soap
• shampoo
• flip flops
• nail clippers
• shaving cream
• razors
• plastic wash basins
• bedpans
• urinals
• emesis basins

The Girl Scouts will be collecting donations through March 4.

Drop-off locations include:
• Richmond Hill Primary School
• Richmond Hill Elementary School
• George Washington Carver Elementary School
• St. Anne Catholic Church
• Richmond Hill YMCA
• Richmond Hill Police Department
• Savannah State University NROTC Unit
• Savannah Country Day School 4th Grade

For more information, you can contact Shannon GaNun at 912-727-3831 or at shannon@shannonganun.com.