Helping Hands

In just the first two and one-half years of World War II, Girl Scouts gave 15,430,000 hours of service to the nation. Among many other projects, they collected and washed bottles for blood storage, gathered rose hips to make vitamin C-rich syrup for soldiers, sewed 100,000 stuffed toys for Bundles for Britain, and harvested milkweed pods to fill lifejackets. Featuring historical Girl Scout adult Kit Hammett and focusing on Girl Scout service during and after World War II, Helping Hands details much more than the history of the Girl Scout uniform. Four fictive diarists, Intermediate Girl Scouts Rosalyn and Patsy, from Tallahassee and Tulsa, and Senior Girl Scouts Linda and Sandy, from Fresno and Milwaukee, chronicle their troop activities and personal service from 1942 to 1957, the Girl Scout centenary year. Postwar projects helped those in battle-ravaged areas with seeds for replanting, school supplies, clothing bundles, and toys. Girl Scout adults even helped the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration set up refugee camps for children in Greece and Egypt. Still later, Girl Scouts gave aid to Korea. In 1955, Rosalyn exclaims, "We have been so concerned about service abroad that we almost forgot that 'Charity begins at home'!" Happily, she reports on Kit Hammett's three-year Camping Caravan training tour of the United States; the Restoration of the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace; the new world center in Mexico; and the "Keep America Beautiful" campaign.Hunt, Kathryn McMurtry is the author of 'Helping Hands', published 2004 under ISBN 9780896725218 and ISBN 0896725219.