Christmas is a time of festivities and quality time with loved ones. However, during this period, shops are at their busiest, as everyone is running around attempting to get last minute presents and ingredients for their Christmas dinners. Luckily, the Explorer Scout Unit, Pegasus, was there to help. On Sunday 23rd December, several young scout members bag packed at a Sainsbury’s in Kenton, Harrow. This allowed shopping to be quicker and efficient as members of the public filled Sainsbury’s due to Christmas shopping.
The purpose of this event was to raise money for their trip to Switzerland on February 9th and also to maintain their scout group, which is a registered charity. After bag packing, members asked the public for a small donation towards this trip, but the public had a choice on whether they wanted to do so.
In addition, to gaining donations for their trip, scout members felt this experience was beneficial as it expanded their social skill set. This was a chance to build their character, as they had to engage with members of the public through starting conversation. Also, they had to learn how to accept rejection when some people did not want their bags to be packed.
Jesal Mistry, 17, recently became a Scout Leader this month after being a part of the scouts for 9 years. In spite of the number of times he has bag packed, he still finds the experience rewarding. In his new role, he felt it was vital to ‘set an example’ for the younger scout members because they looked up to him. Regarding, the charity work across Harrow, Jesal felt, ‘Harrow is not well bound,’ and he felt in order to increase charity work, ‘communication is key.’
This time of a year reiterates the value of helping one another, even if it is through small acts of kindness. The atmosphere should be one present at all times of the year and hopefully more residents of Harrow will get involved with charities in the new year.
