From their Detroit service home, these Girl Scouts took homelessness into their own hands

If everything goes as Tra’Nyh Jones plans, in about seven years she will be receiving college acceptance letters from Harvard, Princeton and Stanford.

But on Wednesday evening, a discussion about Jones’ future college home took a back seat to her concern for people in her community that have no home at all. Others around Jones felt the same way, as Girl Scouts from Detroit and Downriver gathered at the Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan (GSSEM) Detroit Service Center within the Brewery Park campus to assemble “Caring Kids Kits” for homeless women and girls.

“My favorite part of the day was making the kits because I see a lot of homeless people on the corner of my street,” said a smiling Jones, who is entering the fifth grade at Grandport Academy in Ecorse. “I feel good about making the kits because I’m really going to give them out to help people.”

The enthusiasm in Jones' voice was no surprise, given that she and the nine other Girl Scouts in attendance — all at the Junior level of Girl Scouts — had made the decision on their own to address homelessness while pursuing the Bronze Award, which is the highest award a Girl Scout Junior can earn.

On Wednesday, the Girl Scouts were able to learn kit making and community service from one of the best when Zoe Granger, a senior at Seaholm High School, spoke from the heart about seeing homelessness while living in Sacramento, California, as an 11-year-old. Granger was moved to develop her first homeless kit, made up of a pair of tube socks packed with a bottle of water, a granola bar, a toothbrush and toothpaste. Granger and her friends kept kits like these in their parents' cars to distribute whenever they came across people in need. And a variation of that kit — tailored for women and girls — were made at the GSSEM Detroit Service Center by 10 highly focused Girl Scouts who will be taking back what they learned to their respective troops, while continuing to work on their Bronze Award Take Action Project.

Ultimately, with the help of Girl Scouts from multiple troops, enough kits will be produced from the project to distribute across GSSEM’s service area, which touches nine counties in southeast Michigan.

“Our girls have always identified a need, developed a strategy and taken action,” said Monica Woodson, who on Wednesday came across more like a genuine admirer of the socially conscious girls than the leader of a service-oriented nonprofit that reaches more than 22,000 girls, which Woodson also is. “We’re very excited to have this project, which is meeting real-time needs of real-time people throughout southeastern Michigan. And we’re thrilled to be working with Zoe and her family to bring this project to life. Zoe has been doing the work for many years and now we’re able to expand the project to reach an even larger audience.

“Also, when you think about the tragedies that are happening; when you think about Maui and what is happening there; this is a project that can go anywhere. We’re doing this here in southeastern Michigan, but Girl Scouts in Hawaii could pick this up, so we’re excited to build this as a replicable project.”

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During much of Wednesday’s activities, Zawadi Bryant was careful not to let her daughter Zaire know that she was being watched by mom. But even as Zawadi Bryant stayed in the background, she had a good idea about what the project meant to her daughter.

“This is right up her alley as a project,” explained Bryant, whose daughter is a rising sixth grader at University Liggett School. “Our daughter has always had a heart for the homeless, so I know she’s excited to pass the kits out. She doesn’t ever want anyone to go hungry.”

While her daughter welcomes the opportunity to help people in need, Zawadi Bryant revealed that as a community institution, Girl Scouts has helped her and Zaire become comfortable in a new city after moving to Detroit from Houston.

“We’ve been here a year this month, and the first week that we were in town there was a Girl Scout event right across the street from our home at Palmer Park,” recalled Zawadi Bryant, an entrepreneur, who also is a proud mom to Dakari — a student at Renaissance High School and an aspiring Eagle Scout — and the wife of Antoine Bryant, who is director of Detroit’s Planning & Development Department. “My daughter was in Girl Scouts in Houston, so when we went to the event at Palmer Park, we were looking for a new troop, and that allowed her to tap into the Girl Scouts here. And as a former Girl Scout supporting my current Girl Scout, I love the fact that we have done several community outreach projects with her Girl Scout troop. And I think those experiences are so important because we are teaching our girls that they are a part of a larger community.”

Further proof of how Girl Scout service projects have the ability to connect people of all ages and backgrounds was the presence of Zoe Granger, the “Caring Kids Kit” creator, who moved to metro Detroit in 2017 with her family when her father, Chris Granger, joined Ilitch Holdings as group president for sports and entertainment. Chris Granger had served as president of the Sacramento Kings and Sacramento Basketball Holdings, LLC.

Zoe Granger brought her project and passion to her new home, which has drawn comparisons to her mom and mentor Jennifer Granger, who has been involved with more than two dozen charities in three cities, including several in metro Detroit. And Zoe Granger’s desire to serve ultimately led her to the GSSEM Girl Empowerment Program, which she has worked with to help develop a kit project to help homeless women and girls that aligns with GSSEM’s principles, while best serving the needs of the communities involved.

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For her service to homeless people and overall contributions to GSSEM, Zoe Granger will receive the inaugural GSSEM Shining Star Award during the Sept. 7 fundraising Girl Scout Soiree in Detroit. But on Wednesday evening, Granger was not quite ready to look past what had just been accomplished by the 10 Girl Scouts that had assembled kits with her.

“I’m really excited about how excited they were to make the kits, and how they were really into it as they asked for help and instructions,” said Zoe Granger, who appeared to be just as comfortable inspiring and coaching the Girl Scouts as she was with interacting with GSSEM leadership and other interested community members that were on hand, including her mother. “It was a very humbling experience. I saw myself in those girls when I was younger and made the kits with my family. Receiving an award is super cool, but it’s not what I set out to do when I started this. I really do just like helping people, and today, to see people actually care about what I started just means the world to me.”

Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and lifelong lover of Detroit culture in all of its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at: stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott's stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber

Committed to providing a 'girl-led, girl-centered, fun-filled, quality-leadership experience'

Who: Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan (GSSEM)

Main Office: Detroit Service Center, 1333 Brewery Park Blvd., Suite 500, Detroit, 48207

Service area: GSSEM serves more than 22,000 girls and volunteers across Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Genesee, St. Clair, Sanilac, Monroe, Lapeer and Livingston Counties.

Pillars: STEM, Entrepreneurship, Financial Literacy, Life Skills and Skilled Trades

Upcoming special event: Girl Scout Soiree, Sept. 7, at Chroma — 2937 E. Grand. Blvd. — in Detroit’s historic Milwaukee Junction. During the signature fundraising event, Zoe Granger will receive the inaugural GSSEM Shining Star Award in recognition for her service to homeless people and overall contributions to GSSEM. For details or to purchase tickets, go to https://www.gssem.org/gala

Learn more: For more information about the Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan, go to https://www.gssem.org/.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Girl Scouts made kits for homeless girls and women at Detroit center