Troops stationed in Afghanistan will have no shortage of movies to watch during their down time thanks to 30 local Sparks and Brownies.
In just two weeks, members of the First Spruce Sparks and the Fourth Prince George Brownies have collected 1,000 DVDs and VHS video cassettes - but they're not stopping there.
After canvassing parents, relatives, friends and inviting fellow Sparks, Brownies and Guides to participate, they've expanded their call for donations to all of Prince George. That said, even if no more are collected, they'll be happy with the amount they gathered.
"Our goal was to collect 100 and it's far surpassed and we're really grateful," said Fourth Prince George Brownies leader Jennifer Krawczyk, who noted the Canadian military will pay for postage.
It all began during a search on the internet for ideas for badge work. They came across a website, "Valentines for Vets" that challenged groups to send valentines to personnel overseas.
The visit gave Krawczyk, who is a friend of Michelle McCully, whose son Matthew died in Afghanistan in May 2007, the idea of adopting a soldier. And with consultation with McCully, they chose Adam Houghtaling, who grew up in Prince George and is now overseas.
"Our girls wrote letters and drew pictures to send to Adam and then we decided we wanted to make a care package for him and one of the things they really wanted were DVDs - something they could have while they were away that would remind them of home," Krawczyk said.
All the Sparks, Brownies and Guides who've collected five videos will receive a crest and for each video thereafter, their names are put into a draw for camping equipment.
Not all the donations will go to the soldiers. Children-oriented movies will go to the pediatric ward at the hospital and VHS video cassettes will go to the homeless shelters.
In addition to the crests, the Brownies will earn a "Helping in Our Community" badge and the Sparks, the work counts towards "In Our Community" and "The World Around Us" badges.
At the campaign's start, First Spruce Sparks leader Kaarina Mooney pulled out a map of the world to give her young charges a sense of where Afghanistan is in relation to Prince George. They learned it takes a lot longer than the 10-hour drive to get to Vancouver.
"They understood looking on a map, the concept," Mooney said.
For details on making a donation, e-mail Krawczyk at jenn.kingsgirl10@hotmail.com.
