Fourth-grade Junior Girl Scouts from Rheem Elementary School Troop 31525 recently undertook a backpack and art supply drive for 120 refugee families arriving in Oakland from refugee camps outside their home of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Troop 31525 learned that these families were arriving (as part of a U.S. State Department effort) with nothing but the clothes on their backs after fleeing their country. The troop contacted the International Rescue Commission, the organization responsible for settling the refugee families, to see how they could help. The IRC asked for backpacks and art supplies for the children, who in many cases have been living in tents in countries bordering the DRC for months or even years. They will be attending school for the first time in Oakland. This troop of 19 girls contacted neighbors, friends and family and collected 67 backpacks filled with art supplies and passed them on to the IRC for the Congolese refugees.
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA