It was a hot October meeting and the girls of Brownie Troop 2250, Manetuck School West Islip, heard from their leader about a group of soldiers that were from our area and were stationed in Iraq. The girls decided that they would like to brighten the soldiers' Halloween. They made Halloween goody bags at their next meeting. They stuffed the bags with candy, nuts and some glow-in-the-dark rubber fangs. They wrote letters

and drawing and sent off the boxes.

They received word that the soldiers were on a dan- gerous mission and upon returning to their bunks tired, they were greeted by the Troop's boxes of goodies. They learned that the candy and the letters made them so happy and the rubber fangs made the soldiers feel like kids again, and they had lots of fun with them.

Fast forward to December when the Troop's leader learned that our guys were home and Michael (who we knew best) wanted to surprise the girls at their next meeting to thank them for brightening up their Halloween. The Troop decided to surprise Michael with a pizza party. They invited Brownie Troop 2782, from Paul J Bellew School, to join them.

When Michael walked into the meeting it everyone was all smiles. He led the Pledge of Allegiance and the girl scout promise. He told the girls all about Iraq and the children he saw there. You could have heard a pin drop when he spoke. The scouts learned more from him than they could have learned watching any news show.

Michael stayed and joined the girls in goody bags for

another group of soldiers who needed a little pick-meup

from home. The Troop can't wait to hear from them too.