Hillsborough Girl Scouts Donate 'Bravery Bags' To Cancer Patients

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Girl Scout Troop 60346 of Hillsborough recently donated Bravery Bags to patients at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) Somerset’s Steeplechase Cancer Center in Somerville.

While earning their Bronze Award - the highest honor a Girl Scout Junior can achieve - the troop learned how cancer patients arriving for their very first round of chemotherapy typically feel scared, anxious, and alone.

The Girl Scouts decided to create "Bravery Bags" that would be handed to new chemotherapy patients upon checking in for the first time.

After talking with cancer survivors and brainstorming together, the Girl Scouts curated a list of items to include. While some of the items are store-bought and more practical, such as ChapSticks, unscented lotion, adult coloring books, journals, and warm socks, the troop also wanted to provide more personal and sentimental items as well.

Over the course of one year, the girls of Troop 60346 worked on making multiple handmade crafts, such as bracelets with hopeful words, inspirational mini canvases, hand-painted cards, homemade stress balls, handwritten joke books, and individually decorated tote bags.

In addition, the Girl Scouts learned how to crochet specifically for this project because they wanted to give the chemotherapy patients something soft for emotional support. Other Girl Scout troops in Hillsborough also contributed to the project by donating useful items and helping decorate some of the tote bags.

Troop 60346 presented the Steeplechase Cancer Center with 75 Bravery Bags on June 27, during Cancer Survivor Month.

"We are so grateful to the Girl Scouts for their thoughtful donation, which will bring comfort and encouragement to our patients at a very stressful time,” said Kerstin Scheper, assistant vice president of cancer services at RWJUH Somerset.

Troop 60346’s Bronze Award helped develop the girls’ leadership skills and sense of community. Each Girl Scout spent over 20 hours working on the project, which involved researching the needs of chemotherapy patients, creating supply lists and budgets, hosting a donation drive, setting and meeting project deadlines, and making many of the items themselves.

The girls hope that their Bravery Bags, particularly their crocheted owls, offer new patients some courage during such a difficult time.

As they noted in the handwritten letter included in each bag, “Learning to crochet was one of the most challenging things to do in this project, but it taught us that no matter how hard it was, we never gave up, and you shouldn’t either!”

— Submitted by Nicole Beniamini