Kelsey Townsend, a member of Village School’s Girl Scout Troop 677, recently organized a book drive for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. A fourth grader at Village School in West Windsor, she gathered donations of more than 600 children’s books to donate to TASK. She organized the book drive as part of earning the Girl Scout Junior Leadership Award.
She distributed fliers announcing that she would be accepting donations of gently used children’s books to five local troops as well as in her neighborhood in West Windsor. Kelsey delivers a new set of 100 books each month — ensuring that a steady flow of books is available for the children who patronize the soup kitchen.
“It was really fun to see all the books and organize them,” says Kelsey, “I try to make lots of different kinds of books in each delivery.”
She started collecting books in April and is still accepting donations. So far she gathered enough books to make deliveries for the next six months.
“We feel particularly good about distributing books,” says TASK director Peter Wise. “We try to be more than just a soup kitchen, we want to feed the mind as well. I really hope we can provide all kinds of nourishment at TASK.”
“I have two bookcases right in the dining room and the kids get to take whatever they want,” he says. “We do 3,”000 meals a week and we see more kids in the summer — last summer we peaked at 88 kids. “
TASK also provides classes and tutoring. “We have 75 students and 55 volunteer tutors who come down and tutor in literacy, basic math, and preparation for the GED. We teach adults who never learned to read or write — one of our students wanted to be able to read to his own kids.”
The soup kitchen regularly needs a supply of books for both adults and children. Girl Scout Troop 677 is also organizing a book drive to collect books for adults for TASK. To donate books for adults, call Louisa Ho, the troop leader, at 609-371-2119. To donate children’s books, call the Townsend household at 609-716-8805.
If you have a daughter interested in joining a West Windsor-Plainsboro Girl Scout Troop, or if you are interested in leading a Girl Scout Troop, call Pat Helck at 609-897-0529, or send an E-mail to girlscoutswwp@verizon.net.
