Basket Brigade began as a philanthropic project of inspirational speaker Tony Robbins. There are many different ways that this concept can be implemented. Brighter Beginnings’ experience with this activity has been as a collaborator with a Piedmont Girl Scout Troop that has taken on Basket Brigade as a service learning project at Thanksgiving time.
The objectives of the Girl Scouts’ project have been:
1) For the scouts to learn and practice healthy nutrition and issues of food availability in their community.
2) For the scouts (and parents) to develop a greater awareness of poverty in their community
3) To provide the service of a healthy Thanksgiving meal for members of their community.
Their project has involved creating a menu for a healthy Thanksgiving dinner and working with local grocers to source the ingredients. The scouts solicit monetary donations from their community to cover the costs. Then the scouts and a team of volunteers meet on the Saturday before Thanksgiving to assemble the ingredients and deliver them to participating families. Brighter Beginnings screens clients to participate in the program and provides the scouts with the contact information for delivery of the baskets.
For the past several years, this has been a great service to 50 families at Thanksgiving in the Oakland area. We thank the Piedmont Girl Scout Troop for their continuous support!
