Melissa Saunders ties loose bracelets for her daughter’s fundraiser for children affected by the war in Gaza at the Dar Al Jalal Masjid Mosque in Hazelwood, Mo. on Saturday, March 2, 2024. Saunders’s daughter is part of former Girl Scout Troop 149 which left the organization after being told to stop their fundraiser by the regional Girl Scout council.
AP AUDIO: Girl Scouts were told to stop bracelet-making fundraiser for kids in Gaza. Now they can’t keep up. By mid-January, they were selling bracelets of black, red, white and green beads — the colors of the Palestinian flag — with “Palestine” spelled out in letter blocks.for medical treatment. Since the latest war in Gaza began, its focus has shifted to providing food, medication, clothing and humanitarian aid.
“While the fundraiser in question fell outside of these dates, GSUSA did not consider taking and did not take legal action against this troop or the leader,” the national group said. A petition signed by more than 100 troop leaders demands that Girl Scouts of the USA apologize to Troop 149, issue a statement on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and promise that no other troop will get in trouble for fundraising, Manjra said. If the organization refuses, they will stop selling cookies, she said.
Abuhamdeh and other scouts questioned the national organization’s response, saying they knew nothing about restrictions on fundraising or the moratorium on those limits.