The Girl Scouts are attempting to do their part once again in their sixth annual clothing drive for Goodwill.

The Hemlock Girl Scout Council and Goodwill Industries of Central Pennsylvania have teamed up in their "Be Your Best" service project that runs through March 3. Each scout in the council is being asked to collect three or more bags of used clothing for their local Goodwill stores. The organizations hope to reach their goal of 10,000 bags this winter.

The clothing donations will be a welcome addition to Goodwill stores, especially because clothing donations are down this year. "The winter time is the worst time for donations because it's cold outside and people have a hard time making it out to the stores," said Stacy Henninger, director of public relations for Goodwill Industries of Central Pennsylvania. "Usually people wait until spring." The State College location of Goodwill is also participating in the program. Goodwill Industries, 221 S. Allen St., has received an increase in donations due to the publicity surrounding the program.

"People are wonderful," manager Teresa Sutton said. "People read the ads and then they bring the clothes in." The store keeps a list of donations contributed by each troop, so that everybody can see it, Sutton said.

Any donations that are made to Goodwill are then sold at its network of retail stores, which benefit low-income customers. For every dollar of clothing that is sold, 92 cents is used for Goodwill's vocational division. This division provides job assessment, training, supported employment and other opportunities for people with disadvantages. Henninger believes the clothing drive is one of the better projects because it benefits both the Girl Scouts and Goodwill.

"It gives the girls a chance to give back to the community," she said. There are other benefits for the scouts outside of community service. For instance, the scouts fulfill a service project requirement. "It's a wonderful opportunity for the girls to live the Girl Scout motto of 'Do a good turn daily' in a real way," said Rae Lynn Cox, Hemlock Girl Scout Council spokeswoman. "It's a very complete project because once the girls collect the donations, they then have an opportunity to tour the facilities where the donations are collected," Cox said.