To have and to have not.

A local Brownie troop knows the difference and quadrupled its efforts to help the poor.

Girl Scout leader Donna Ertel Riley was pleased when the 8- and 9-year-old girls of Brownie Troop 42161 collected 230 coats and 50 scarves for the “One Warm Coat + One Warm Scarf” drive of South Whidbey.

Riley recalled a drive from two years ago when the girls were the younger Daisy Girl Scout Troop and collected 60 coats.

“We talked to the girls about doing something that was ‘giving’ during the season of ‘getting,’” Riley said.

This year they came up with the idea of adding a scarf to the winter outerwear drive.

“The girls and their parents wrapped big appliance store boxes, and we placed them at Ken’s Korner Red Apple and the Goose Community Grocer with signs asking people to donate new or gently used coats,” Riley said.

“The response was amazing!” she added.

This year, St. Vincent de Paul Society of Snohomish County will come with a pick-up truck to transfer the coats and scarves to various locations where they will be given directly to men, women and children in need, rather than to a thrift store.

Riley said that representatives of St. Vincent de Paul attended the troop’s holiday meeting Tuesday to tell the girls about why the coats are needed, how they will help families in the organization and what a difference the program makes in the lives of their clients. The coats and scarves happen to have been gathered just in time for the yearly “Coat Give-Away.”

“That means 230 men, women, children and infants will be getting much-needed coats for the holidays,” Riley said.

Riley said the drive was possible thanks to the generosity of the South Whidbey community and the willingness of Ken’s Korner Red Apple and the Goose to allow the collection bins to remain in their stores through November and part of December.