The Brook Hill Lower School’s fifth grade service project this year was to collect duffel bags for the Duffels for H.O.P.E. organization.  Duffels for H.O.P.E. is “a non-profit organization that seeks to provide proper transitional containers for the belongings of children entering the foster care system.”  Many of the duffels were filled with items that a foster child might need their first night in their new home.  Diapers, baby wipes, pacifiers, blankets, stuffed animals, coloring books, hair brushes, toothbrushes, and toothpaste were just a few of the things that filled the bags.

Mrs. Gina Jones, founder of the organization, visited The Brook Hill Lower School to speak to the students and express her appreciation to them for the duffels they provided.  Mrs. Jones shared with the students the idea for beginning the organization and said, “My husband and I brought home our first foster children and could not believe that all of their belongings were in trash bags.  This is what drove me to begin Duffels for H.O.P.E. in May of 2012.”  Mrs. Jones encouraged the children to continue sharing and doing good things for others as they had done for the foster children in our area.