Girl Scouts Spread Cheer at Shelter

Bertha Lara just could not find enough Girl Scouts to hug at a Valley Shelter Christmas party in North Hollywood.

“I don’t want to say goodbye,” said Lara, a mother of two who came to this country from Mexico three years ago. She spoke in Spanish through an interpreter. “Thank you to God for this. This is a Christian country.”

On Friday evening, the San Fernando Valley Girl Scouts Council threw a Christmas party for the 30 families--160 people--at the shelter run by the Los Angeles Family Housing Corp. About 15 Girl Scout and Brownie troops from across the Valley adopted families and brought them stuffed bears, dolls, toys, ornaments, candy, cakes and other foods.

The shelter’s cafeteria was dotted with Girl Scout uniforms as the girls got their first look at a homeless shelter.

“I thought it was going to be a big house,” said Nina Babami, a 10-year-old scout with Troop 1309 in Sherman Oaks and Studio City. Actually, the shelter began a decade ago in a converted 1950s-era motel. Families live in small, private apartments.

“The girls have been looking forward to this for a long time,” said Judy Marks of Studio City, a leader with Brownie Troop 378.

Marks helped interpret when the scouts wanted to talk to Spanish-speaking residents and explain different features of the toys.

“El gusto es mio,” meaning “The pleasure is mine,” was a phrase that Marks explained to the girls a few times.

The party marks a new relationship that has been forming between the Scouting group and the shelter. Within the past year, the Girl Scouts have set up a troop for shelter residents, providing sashes, pins, T-shirts and shorts for the girls.