Families get free presents at pop-up toy shop organized by local Girl Scout troop

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A local Girl Scout group got to help families pick out presents for their children this holiday season.

"I like it because it is very nice to just sell stuff for free!" Girl Scout Lucia V. said.

Girl Scout Troop 37588 spent Sunday, Dec. 17, working at the free toy pop-up toy shop their Troop Leader organized by collecting community donations. The event served 50 families, allowing them to get gifts for their children.

"We are here to provide toys for children to open on Christmas morning," Troop Leader Barbara Gibbs said. "We have things that are gently used. We have things that are new. I feel like everything here has a potential home. In one week, we were able to gather all these toys."

One woman, Ruby Bradford, stopped in to get gifts for her nine children.

"It's like, what do you do around the holidays if you don't have no help? Then you have nothing," she said. "No kid should not have a gift for Christmas. So, I do appreciate it very much."

During the event, at The Brick House on E. Center St., troop members were helping shoppers.

"I like giving out candy canes and wrapping presents and opening up doors," Girl Scout Margo H. said.

The troop's efforts were appreciated by the presents who got to pick out presents, no questions asked.

"It's awesome because at a young age, knowing that you can do something to put a smile on somebody else's face, it makes you grow," Bradford said. "It starts at that age."

Before the pop-up, the troop learned how to properly wrap gifts to give families the option of having them wrapped on the spot.

"We're providing that little extra service to make people feel special," Gibbs said.

Bradford tells CBS 58 that these presents will absolutely make Christmas in her house merry.

"[I'm] Grateful. Very much so because they didn't have to do anything," she said. "If more people do what the Girl Scouts are doing, it would be better for everybody as a whole."