I hope no-one thinks that I am being mean spirited here but I am beginning to wonder whether this is a real "worthy" cause for little Brownies to support? I have spoken to the lovely Brown owl who said she understood what I meant but their pack has always done this since she can remember.
I feel that way about most shoe-box appeals actually and don't participate and do other things instead
Please please please, those of you who are kindly wanting to do things for refuges or the homeless, please ring them and check what it is they actually need. They usually get too much of what people think they want and not enough of what they actually need! For example, this year the local refuge might have mostly young teens and doesn't need & can't store 200 teddy bears & baby bath toys. When I spoke to our local homeless shelter they told us that whilst they were grateful, they always got too many hats and scarfs, but what they actually needed was socks and under ware.
It's lovely that people want to help, but just a reminder to make sure your help is helpful, because unfortunately every year 100s of well mean donations miss the mark and end up causing more of a problem (logistics of storage etc) than a help