EVANS — A group of Girl Scouts in Highlands Ranch is looking out for students at Union Colony Elementary School in Evans.
Since April, Girl Scout Troop 1631 started collecting school supplies with the help of schools in their area. The effort was part of the girls' project to earn them a Bronze Award, the highest honor for a Girl Scout Junior.
In order to get the award, the troop had to do a community service project that would have a lasting impact.
"We put a bin or a box in front of [the schools] lobbies," said Lucy Berwyn, a 10-year-old scout. "The kids who didn't really need their school supplies at the end of the year for the summer, they could just put them in there and they would go to this cause."
The girls gathered items that would help both students and teachers including not only pencils and pens, but also backpacks, lunch boxes, jackets, folders and even clothes.
"It feels really good that we make such a difference," said 10-year-old Charlotte Holmberg.
By the end of their collection period, the scouts had thousands of supplies to donate when they arrived at Colony Union Elementary on Sunday afternoon.
Ellen Clark, a fourth-grade teacher at the school, said the donation was enough to last them at least two years.
"My fellow staff members and I were already saying, 'You know, we can take these and give them other schools in the community,'" Clark said.
She compared the delivery to Christmas morning.
"I don't think the girls even fully understand the impact that it's going to have not only on my classroom but on our how school community," Clark said.
