About two dozen elementary students can expect a little extra cheer on their birthday thanks to Emily Cucci and her Silver Award project.
Cucci, an eighth grader at Cornwall Central Middle School, recently put together 25 birthday bags and donated them to Backpacks for Food to help children whose families might not be able to celebrate their birthday.
“Your birthday is the most special day for a kid,” Cucci said. “You go to school and everyone says ‘happy birthday’ to you. Then you go home and for some kids who don’t have anything, they’re on the bus and they’re like ‘oh no, what am I supposed to do now?’”
Cucci had heard of BFF and decided to create a project that would help the two-year-old volunteer organization, which provides weekend meals for needy students.
Cucci met with Sally Mattausch, one of the organizers, then presented her plan to the Girl Scout Council.
With the help of family and fellow scouts, Cucci filled 25 birthday bags with cake mix, frosting, rubber balloons, party hats, and streamers.
One of the toughest parts of the project, Cucci said, was visiting business owners and asking for donations. However, the efforts proved to be worthwhile as she garnered $3 off coupons for frozen yogurt at Toppings and a gift certificate for a free cupcake at Antonio’s Cupcakes.
“They were very happy I went to them and they loved the idea of birthday in a bag,” said Cucci.
In order to obtain all the items for the bags, Cucci organized a couple of fund raisers where the cost to participate was a donation of a birthday-related item.
A Bingo game was held the day before Thanksgiving, and Cucci also organized a card-making workshop. The handmade cards were also included in the bags.
The bags were put together on Dec. 5, a day after Cucci’s birthday, and brought to the Cornwall Presbyterian Church.
Some of the bags have already been given to birthday celebrants, but others remain to be handed out by the elementary schools. Cucci said she chose 25 bags because it’s the size of a classroom and larger projects are reserved for the Gold Award.
Cucci plans to encourage other scouts to continue the project for their Silver Award, but with some variation, like filling Christmas instead of birthday bags.
