Girl Scout Troop 4258 Donates Stuffed Animals To Police To Help Kids In Need

No kid likes being told they need to get rid of stuffed animals. But when Beth Thierer told her daughter Mackenzie those dreaded words, rather than sparking complaints, it sparked an idea.

“I had said to Mackenzie about encouraging her to clean her room, and I had told her something I had heard in a local neighborhood chat is that local law enforcement will collect them sometimes,” Beth said.

Police officers keep gently used stuffed animals in their cruisers to give to children in difficult situations to provide comfort.

Mackenzie immediately became interested in the idea of donating to that cause, recruiting two of her friends and fellow members of Severna Park Elementary School (SPES)’s Girl Scout Troop 4258 to help. They went through Mackenzie’s closet, but they didn’t stop there. Later that day, they set up a neighborhood lemonade stand to raise money for more stuffed animals to give to the police department.

“I think it was only $30 that they made, but you would have thought it was a million,” Beth said of the lemonade stand.

Soon after, the idea expanded even further as more people became involved. The entire Girl Scout troop came together to be a part of the drive. They discovered that the Annapolis Police Department would take the stuffed animals and began working out the details with Sergeant Kristoffer Becker, community outreach supervisor and wellness program coordinator. News of the project spread to community members through Facebook pages and to others at SPES.

“I would think that everyone would say no to that, but everyone said, ‘Oh! Yeah! I would help!’” Mackenzie said.

For Mackenzie’s friend Katie Bauer, the project had special meaning. Katie instantly wanted to assist when Mackenzie mentioned the idea, as the cause felt close to her heart. She helped Mackenzie go through her closet and then with the lemonade stand, before diving deeper into the project as it grew bigger.

“I lost my dad a couple years ago, and I like to help people like they helped me,” Katie said.

Over the course of the project, Katie collected over 600 stuffed animals from various people, overloading her family’s house and car. Fifty of those came from SPES kindergarten teacher Lindy Stansbury, who had seen a post on Facebook made by Katie’s mom, Shelly.

“For my friend’s 50th birthday, a book was put together by her family to share acts of kindness,” Stansbury said. “She is a dog lover, and I felt that this would be the perfect way to celebrate her by providing ‘cuddles’ for kids in need during traumatic situations. I donated 50 little puppies; my hope is that every time a child gets one of the puppies, they feel comfort.”

The troop got so many donations that they had to stop taking them because they ran out of space. The girls gathered to sort through and package the stuffed animals, a step usually done by the police department. With their moms, they pulled up with cars full of the stuffed animals they’d been storing. The process took a little under two hours, with all 11 girls and their two troop leaders bagging the stuffed animals, zipping them, and putting them in trash bags to take to the police department.

“I have to give Bridget a shoutout with the smell test,” Mackenzie said, explaining that her troopmate Bridget Gunia smelled each stuffed animal to judge whether it was fit to be donated.

They lost count around 700 stuffed animals, ending up with over 1,000, according to Mackenzie and her classmate Elly Duncan. Any stuffed animals that weren’t fit to be donated to the police department were instead taken to the textile bin at Oak Hill Elementary School, which helps the school raise funds through recycling.

After they finished bagging the stuffed animals, the troop and their parents hopped in their cars and drove them to the Annapolis Police Department. As thanks, the girls were given a tour of the department.

“They’re going to car accidents and kids who have to face that, kids who have to face house fires, or maybe have to see their parents having a medical emergency in front of their eyes, maybe parents fighting,” Mackenzie said. “Everyone cared about this one cause. They wanted to fix it.”

Troop 4258 plans to collect stuffed animals to donate again in the spring.

“None of this was really pre-planned; it just happened!” Beth said. “I was just really trying to get rid of stuffed animals.”