DATTCO & Girl Scouts Team for Holiday Giving Campaign

MIDDLETOWN --(Amy Zitka, Middletown Press, 11/27/2003) Area Girl Scout troops and a local business are teaming up to collect toys and food this weekend and next month for less fortunate families and ill children.

Cadet Girl Scout Troop 2250, Junior Girl Scout Troop 3164, as well as other Brownie and Junior troops and Dattco Bus Company will be kicking off their "Stuff a Bus" fund-raiser.

New unwrapped toys and non-perishable food will be accepted Saturday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Dattco Bus Company on Tuttle Road. A second weekend for the fund-raiser is scheduled for the same place and time on Dec. 13.

"This year we’re going to have small buses collecting food," said troop leader Amy Shaw.The small buses will be available to drop off food donations from 8 a.m. to noon on both Saturdays at the A&P Waldbaum’s Foodmart on Washington Street and the Super Stop & Shop on East Main Street, she said.

Last year the troops only collected toys, but they did receive some food donations, Shaw said.

Food banks are in trouble with low donations and an increased number of people seeking assistance, Shaw said, adding the troops decided to help out again.

"Last year it was an extreme success," she said, adding 450 toys were collected last year.

This year’s goal is to collect 500 toys and 500 food items, Shaw said.

"Any help we can get will be appreciated," she said.

Children in local hospitals and local shelters will benefit from the fund-raiser over the holiday season, officials said.

Dattco is supplying the buses and transportation for the holiday undertaking to fill all three buses.

"We are hopeful that this year’s event will be even more successful than the one last year.We have two additional collection sites as well as many dedicated volunteers," said Dattco employee Sonya Martin, a "Stuff a Bus" coordinator.

Junior and Senior Girl Scouts, Brownies and Dattco employees will assist in the collection and distribution of the donated items