The inclusive troop, formed in 2021 by a parent and inclusion advocate, has packed snacks for food pantries, turned out for the opening of East Brunswick’s inclusive Lenape Park and laid wreaths for veterans. It is enrolling girls in kindergarten through 12th grade.
In Girl Scout Troop 82590, taking part does not mean everyone doing the same thing. “Girls participate where they’re comfortable,” the troop says. “We accommodate levels of ability for each individual Girl Scout.”
That idea is the reason the troop exists. It was formed in 2021 by “a special needs parent and advocate for inclusion,” according to the troop, on a premise the troop states plainly: all girls can be Girl Scouts. “Everyone has a unique brain and self, and therefore different skills, abilities, and needs,” the troop writes. Its enrollment flyer says girls in kindergarten through 12th grade in Central New Jersey “with any variation of cognitive functioning or physical abilities are welcome.”
The troop’s focus is social skills, life skills and peer modeling, in which girls learn from one another by working side by side. The flyer ties that work to the same foundation every troop shares, “the Girl Scout mission, promise, and law.”
Many ways to show up
What the troop has taken on since 2021 covers a lot of ground, and that range is the point. Some of its work happens away from any crowd. The girls have packed snacks for food pantries and collected diapers in diaper drives, according to the troop.
Other work puts them in front of the whole town. In East Brunswick, the troop was at the ribbon-cutting and opening of the township’s inclusive Lenape Park. Its Girl Scouts have marched in Milltown’s Fourth of July Parade, joined National Night Out and walked the field at Somerset Patriots games, along with Girl Scout council and other local events.
Some of it is quiet and solemn. Each year the troop takes part in Wreaths Across America Day, when volunteers across the country lay wreaths on veterans’ graves in December. The troop describes it as honoring servicemen and women.
And some of it is plain Girl Scout business. Every year the troop sells nuts, chocolate and magazines, and it hosts cookie booths that it counts as successful. Wreaths Across America Day is on that fundraising calendar, too.
A parade route, a cookie table, a cemetery in December and a food pantry packing line each ask something different of a girl. In this troop, she takes part in the way that works for her.
Joining the troop
Five years in, the troop’s invitation is the one it started with: all girls can be Girl Scouts.
Troop 82590 is now enrolling girls in kindergarten through 12th grade. For questions about joining Inclusion Troop 82590, email Troop82590@gmail.com. For general Girl Scout inquiries, email JoinEBSMRGirlScouts@gmail.com. Families can also see what the girls have been up to on Instagram at @inclusiontroop82590.
