Philathropist Brownie Badge - Retired

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This is a retired badge, but an important one to me. Since it's retired, you'll have to search! I managed to find 23 from the Girl Scout Greater Alaska council. You may also be able to find some on ebay, google or Facebook groups.

For this badge, I contacted a local food panty and homeless shelter, Loaves and Fishes for St. Louis to come out and speak to our girls. Our guest speaker was a Girl Scout dad, so he was incredibly patient with our girls who blurted out answers in excitement.  

If your girls have a service project, this is a good badge to consider.

Learn what every person needs
We had a discussion with our guest speaker. He described the shelter and the girl discussed what needs vs. wants. Since it's a shelter - our girls had lots of questions. The organization also offers people free clothing (from donations) and has a food pantry. The girls took turns giving suggestions on how we can help those in need.
Investigate how to help people who are hungry

Our guest speaker was a former police officer, so part of his current job is to canvas areas where the unhoused may be to see if they want shelter or need any food. He explained this to the girls and discussed the best type of food donations for the unhoused is pop top canned food like ravioli. We took a trip to WalMart on a different day and the girls picked out pop top canned food such as meat, tuna, chili, and pastas.

Find out how to help people who need clothes

We held this meeting at the end of fall so it was preparing to be cold in Missouri. The girls shouted out what people need in the cold - and Mr. Tom, our guest speaker confirmed the need for coats, socks, gloves, and hats for the unhoused. At Walmart, we purchased these items and some hand warmers.

Know how to help in times of emergency

As Brownies, our girls are 7, 8, and 9 years old. They can't make a huge impact now, but understanding that others are in need was our main focus. As a group, we discussed what it feel like outside and how others would feel if they were outside without a coat, hat or gloves. Each girl was excited to bring in thier donation and present it to the organization. Mr. Tom said we had the largest donation from a Girl Scout troop --- they needed a box truck!

Think ----and act! ---like a philanthropist

Our plan was 3 fold - go to the store with a portion of our Treats and Reads funds, collect gently used clothing from our own home, and ask friends and family for donations. We collected over 1600 items!

Our Troop's Plan:

We took 1/2 of our Treats and Reads money - roughly $400 for a service project

Take a trip to WalMart for a tour & shopping

We divided in 3 groups to buy diapers, pop top canned food, gloves and socks

Host a Clothing Drive focusing on coats, hats, gloves.

We collected over 1600 items!

Supply List

Philanthropist Badge - they are available online here

Dry Erase Board

Thank you Gift
Trash bags