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Living by the Girl Scout Law, Even Without a Home

Girl Scouts from Troop 6000 on an outing this month. The troop was created in February at a Queens hotel where homeless families have been placed.Credit...Sam Hodgson for The New York Times

The girls streamed into what once served as a dining room at a Sleep Inn in Queens, ready to begin their meeting with a roll call.

One by one came the names: “Jessica. Luz,” recited Karina, a fifth grader. “Carmen?”

The room was small enough that Karina could easily see who was there and who was not. But this was a meeting of Girl Scout Troop 6000, where girls learn to be leaders, and protocol is to be followed.

Troop 6000 is the first in New York City designated solely for homeless girls. All of the members live at the Sleep Inn, where the city has taken over all 10 floors to accommodate about 100 homeless families.

In a way, the troop, created in February, is a reflection of the state of homelessness in the city. Within the Girl Scouts of Greater New York, troop numbers are determined by the city’s five boroughs, with the 1000s in the Bronx, 2000s in Brooklyn and so on. But the members of Troop 6000 would not necessarily identify Queens as their home, so Girl Scout leaders extended the numerical sequence.

“We’re the O.G.!” one of the girls shouted. The slang, short for original gangster, can take on a nefarious connotation, but in this case simply means being the first of its type, one that commands respect.

Hailey, Karina’s sister and, at 14, the oldest girl present, used more conventional, Girl Scout-like language.

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From left, Luz, Hailey, Brooklyn, Carmen and Karina during a troop meeting. The troop has grown to 21 members.Credit...Sam Hodgson for The New York Times

“We’re starting a chain reaction,” she said. “Hopefully, in the next couple years, there will be more Girl Scout troops in shelters.”

Troops for homeless girls are rare, but not without precedent. Girl Scouts of the USA does not track such troops nationally, but in the past 30 years, troops have formed in shelters in Atlanta; Broward County, Fla.; and San Pedro, Calif. At one point during the 1990s, a number of untraditional troops were created to reach girls in shelters, migrant worker camps and public housing.

As Mayor Bill de Blasio and his administration grapple with a crisis of homelessness, the city has placed about 7,500 people in commercial hotels. In February, Mr. de Blasio unveiled a five-year plan to open 90 new shelters and expand 30 current ones to replace hotel rooms and so-called cluster apartments that are both costly and inconvenient, often making it difficult for people to get the services they need to move into permanent housing.

The city’s Department of Homeless Services has been criticized for having a patchwork of shelters and making haphazard placements that frequently saddle children with long commutes to school. The plan is aimed at placing people in the neighborhoods where they lived before becoming homeless so they can remain near community anchors, like churches and schools.

The new troop is among a number of programs begun by the city to meet the needs of children, who make up nearly 40 percent of the roughly 60,000 people in the city’s primary shelter system. Of 287 people housed at the Sleep Inn, 155 are under 18, according to homeless services.

The troop emerged from unfortunate circumstances, but also from a welcome coincidence and like-minded thinking among the Girl Scouts, the homeless services department and Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who represents that area of Queens.

“It’s just about the most right thing I’ve ever been a part of,” said Mr. Van Bramer, who gave the scouts pins for completing first aid training and discussed government with them last month.

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Karina, left, and Sanaa. Children make up nearly 40 percent of the roughly 60,000 people in the city’s primary shelter system.Credit...Sam Hodgson for The New York Times

Mr. Van Bramer, 47, said his own family became homeless in 1970. For two months, it lived in a commercial hotel on the Upper East Side that was used as a shelter.

He makes a point of visiting shelters, and so do many Girl Scouts troops. When one troop was serving Thanksgiving dinner at a women’s shelter in Queens, Mr. Van Bramer mentioned to representatives of the Girl Scouts the idea of forming a troop for homeless girls.

Soon, there was a meeting of recreation directors of 10 shelters. They thought about offering an opportunity for homeless girls to attend a summer scout camp and tried to work out funding. Then Giselle Burgess stepped in with the idea of a troop.

Ms. Burgess works as a community engagement specialist for Girl Scouts of Greater New York. She is also homeless.

A single mother of five children, including Hailey and Karina, Ms. Burgess became homeless in August after their rental home in Flushing was sold to make way for condominiums. Moving in with relatives was not an option — her mother, stepfather and two adult siblings were already squeezed into a two-bedroom apartment.

Ms. Burgess, 32, earns a decent salary, she said, enough that she does not qualify for food stamps but not enough to easily afford an apartment that can accommodate six people.

First, homeless services placed the family in Brooklyn. “It was way too far, and all of my resources are in Queens,” she said.

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Troop 6000 is the first in New York City designated solely for homeless girls. Such Girl Scout troops are rare nationwide. Giselle Burgess, leader of Girl Scouts Troop 6000, irons on patches at Girl Scouts of Greater New York headquarters in New York, New YorkCredit...Sam Hodgson for The New York Times

Then the family landed at the Sleep Inn, not ideal with just a room with double beds and no kitchen facilities, but four blocks from her children’s school.

Ms. Burgess immediately became active in the community, and pitched the idea of beginning a troop in the hotel to her bosses who had already been talking to Mr. Van Bramer and homeless services.

“They said: ‘Are you kidding me? Absolutely. Go for it,’” Ms. Burgess said.

She was worried initially, she said, because the first meeting drew just eight girls, including three of her daughters. Through word of mouth, though, the troop had 20 scouts at the start of the recent meeting.

By the end of the meeting, Phoenix, 10, became the 21st member of Troop 6000. “Is this the sign-up for Girl Scouts?” Takisha Wilson, 39, her mother, asked as they walked into the room.

Ms. Wilson said she had seen a flier taped to a wall next to an ice machine. “My daughter always wanted to go. I just couldn’t afford it,” Ms. Wilson said.

The Girl Scouts of Greater New York is covering the costs for Troop 6000: a $25 membership fee; a $75 starter kit of patches, pins, workbooks and vests; and the $20 monthly dues. Donations are being accepted.

Angelo Vargas, 30, rushed into the room with his daughter, 7-year-old Alexa, her pink book bag slung over his back. “She was asking me all day, ‘Are we going to make it on time?’” said Mr. Vargas, a single parent who works in maintenance, adding that he was a Boy Scout as a child.

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Credit...Sam Hodgson for The New York Times

The meetings and outings, like a trip to the local Girl Scouts headquarters on Wall Street on Thursday, are something to look forward to in a place where a curfew and a restriction on visitors make it difficult to set up play dates and foster friendships.

With children’s needs a priority, Steven Banks, the city commissioner of social services, said he had met with representatives of the Girl Scouts recently to discuss an expansion into other shelters.

In interviews, the girls of Troop 6000 talked about what they wanted to be when they grew up. Fashion designer, pediatrician, basketball player, engineer. (The New York Times is using only the girls’ first names to protect their privacy.)

“I’m going to help the homeless,” said Silkia, 9, a third grader. “I’m going to get mad money, and I’m going to ask them if they want a shelter.”

Luz, 13, who is originally from the Bronx and attends seventh grade in Brooklyn, chimed in. “Or I could just switch up your idea,” she added. “You’re going to work and have mad money. Then you’re going to build a shelter for the homeless people.

“And then you’re going to give food, give blankets, give pillows, and there you go,” she added, opening her arms as in a ta-da moment. “A shelter.”

There was a pause. Then Silkia said, “But I need friends to help me.”

She has 20 and counting.

Susan Beachy contributed research.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Girl Scout Troop Fosters Pride at Queens Shelter. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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