For the past three years, Girl Scout Troop 1714, of Portland, has dedicated its community service outreach to providing a helping hand for homeless teenagers in the city – a topic that all of the Troop members are concerned about.

Each year, the troop makes St. Valentines Day gifts, conducts clothing drives and donates "pocket snacks" for homeless teenagers during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Under the direction of troop leaders Mary Ann Delsandro and Susan Wiggin, the team recently hosted staff from Preble Street Resource center, as well as a Gold Award Girl Scout, to educate them about the complicated needs of homeless teens.

The girls responded by filling 24 Christmas stockings with personal hygiene products and other essentials and placed them on the cots of teens at a Portland shelter, to help them to stay clean, warm, dry and fed while they are finding their way through the challenges they face.