St. Veronica's Cub Scouts committed to public service

HOWELL - St. Veronica's Pack 300 is at your service - service projects that is.

During October and November, Pack 300 Cub Scouts and their families bagged groceries at the Freehold ShopRite to raise money for needed items for Ronald McDonald House, assembled six Thanksgiving baskets donated to the Joshua House with turkeys and the fixings to feed 50 homeless or displaced people, provided a Christmas care package to a troop of 11 soldiers in Iraq, and participated in Operation DVD by collecting nearly 200 VHS tapes and DVDs to ship to armed forces personnel.

"Our entire group of Pack 300 Cub Scouts and their families came together during our Service Week from Nov. 13- 15 to work as a team to assemble the ornaments, cards and other items as part of renewed focus on giving back to our local community as well as the military - service is a key component of the Scouting experience," said Len Abbazia, Cubmaster, Pack 300.

"I want to thank my scouts, their families, my leaders and committee members and especially Service Projects Chair Teri Vetter for pulling it all together," Abbazia said

In December, the members of Pack 300 will personally deliver 100 handcrafted goodie bags for the residents of the Pinewoods assisted living center in Howell and they will showcase their talents in a Christmas show featuring caroling, puppetry and merriment.

At its Christmas Party, Pack 300 will participate in an Adopt a Family program that includes decorating a fresh tree with ornaments, providing turkeys and desserts, donating gently used winter coats and giving gifts to an assigned family within the Transitional Housing for Families system.

Pack 300 was also busy this fall being environmentally conscious with its conservation projects that included acorn collections for reseeding trees through the Jackson Forestry Center, and is planning an array of activities for 2008 with Conservation Wildlife of New Jersey and the Howell Public Works Department during Earth Day, among others.