YOU THINK 1 PERSON DOING 1 THING CAN’T MAKE A DIFFERENCE? THINK AGAIN! Kirstina Woung-Fallon DID 1 THING and it turned into donations of thousands of things!
Meet Kristina Woung-Fallon, a sophomore at Mount Saint Mary Academy and a Senior Girl Scout from Girl Scouts Heart of NJ.
Kristina developed a project to bring awareness to our community of a forgotten group of young adults. Since she was in kindergarten she has served the homeless…the babies, displaced families, and the elderly but never thought about the 18-22 year old homeless youth. She decided to bring awareness to her high school & grammar school community, girl scouts & boy scouts communities, and anyone who would listen at physical therapy, at basketball games, in stores, in the neighborhood, email friends, etc…
She started in October 2008 to bring the awareness by asking local schools and business to leave her gold decorated boxes with informational flyers in their lobby as a collection site. She spoke at various meetings and met with leaders, managers, principles, store managers, classmates, etc. She sent emails asking friends to pass the need on and to “help her help them” and to just “do one thing…whatever your one thing is.” As the awareness started to spread she needed to coordinate the dropping off and picking up of the donations …duffel bags, tote bags, backpacks, toiletries, gift items, socks, hats, gloves, scarves, school & office supplies, etc..
As the donations arrived she spent hours sorting & counting the items in boxes, bags, & bins. She kept track of what she was receiving and what she needed more of. As she saw a need for a specific item she would put a plea out for more of the needed items. Some times the same people donated again. Kristina then had to ask for help to organize and assemble the 125 duffel, tote, and backpacks.
On assembly night, family, friends, Girl Scout troop friends & moms packed each bag with essential toiletries and then the extra gifts & accessories. Kristina had an inventory sheet for each bag that she personally highlighted the item, “Hugs & Love.” Her goal was to make each youth that received a bag feel that they were loved and remembered.
Delivery on Saturday, February 14th took 3 trucks and a filled car to bring the helpers, the filled duffels, totes, & backpacks, and a boxes of extra supplies that couldn’t fit in the bags. It is a day that Kristina will ever forget…seeing the multitude of all the “do 1 thing” 
projects come together! After 6 months of planning, organizing, and completing Kristina’s Gold project, “Duffle of Hugs” the truly amazing part is that donations are still coming in and the project is not ending.
It was a full house for the Program Presentation at The Covenant House in Newark NJ. We heard about the history of The Heart Gallery and how Do1Thing came to be. We saw the amazing videos posted on the site and got to hear the stories from the actual kids themselves. Miss New Jersey herself was here in the flesh signing autographs and supporting the cause. The kids were delighted to meet her. People young and old, from near and far gave their support, even the local girl scouts.