Kids ran across the dark field behind the mosque toward a pile of trash. They had to quickly decide if an egg carton belonged in the recycle, compost or trash bin. Then, each one ran back to the kids waiting to continue the relay race.

“We need to go one at a time,” Nawal Abuhamdeh called out over the noisy din of about 40 young children. “We cannot have chaos!”

It was a little chaotic. Then again, it was the first scouting event to combine several newly formed troops from the St. Louis area.

In January, the girls in Abuhamdeh’s Girl Scout troop were heartbroken over the killing and devastation in Gaza. They started a bracelet-making fundraiser to help with urgent humanitarian needs for children trapped in the relentless bombardment.

Abuhamdeh, a Palestinian American mother of four, had seen Girl Scout fundraisers for other war victims. But in this case, the regional council sent her emails saying that the activity violated their policies. The troop was ordered to remove all Girl Scout branding from their flyers or face legal action.

Abuhamdeh shared her experience with the Post-Dispatch, and it quickly attracted international media attention. The troop's bracelet campaign raised nearly $26,000 in donations for one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. Within days, the national Girl Scouts organization apologized for the regional council’s legal threat. Still, the council's treatment led Abuhamdeh’s troop to disband from the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri.

But Abuhamdeh, who had led her daughter’s troop for five years, wasn’t ready to give up on scouting.

"I valued Girl Scouts so much because I saw the skill development scouting offers," she said. In a small WhatsApp group she shared with three other local moms, she wrote that she wanted to find a way to keep her daughter’s troop going.

“We are ready,” responded one of the moms, Melissa Saunders. “Just lead the way, and we are coming.”

Saunders’ oldest daughter became a fourth-generation Girl Scout when she joined Abuhamdeh’s troop in second grade. Saunders, her mom and grandmother were all part of military families, who moved frequently. The troops she belonged to growing up were all Christian and white. She wanted her children, who are also of Pakistani heritage, to have a sense of community.

She was upset by the “bracelet fiasco,” as she described it.

“As Muslims, it just felt like another hit,” Saunders said. But then, the support started pouring in from around the country and the world. More than 100 Girl Scout troop leaders signed a petition in support of their fundraising activity. Abuhamdeh, who had felt isolated and scared to speak out about her views growing up, did daily news interviews for two weeks straight. She received so many encouraging emails and letters, some of which included checks for the girls to keep up their activities even after disbanding.

“It restored my faith in humanity,” Abuhamdeh said.

She opened a bank account and reached out to an attorney about starting a nonprofit: Salam Scouts.

She figured she and the three other moms would each lead a troop. Then in July, she received a call from another mom, who had heard about the new Salam Scouts troops.

“I’m in California, and I have a group of moms who are not going back to Girl Scouts, and we need something to do,” she said.

Abuhamdeh decided to take her fledgling scouting group national. They had volunteers interested in starting troops in Texas, California and Michigan. A couple of educators in California offered to help write the curriculum. They would unveil one new badge a month.

They’ve already got 21 troops in four states with 176 children registered and many on waiting lists. They are actively recruiting more volunteers to lead troops.

Saunders, who transitioned from a Girl Scouts leader to Salam Scouts, said that the experience of leaving a large, established organization to start something new taught them all valuable lessons. Despite any difficulties, none of the moms say they regret the decision to leave the Girl Scouts.

“There really is good in everything, and you just have to find it,” she said.

Yumi Ota grew up in Japan and came to the United States as a graduate student. She knew Abuhamdeh before the bracelet controversy began. She saw trolls doxing her online, posting her and her kids' personal information and calling her a terrorist.

“Instead of running away, she decided to step forward,” Ota said. “She created something positive out of that hate and attention.”

Two of her children have now joined the Salam Scouts. Ota was inspired by Abuhamdeh’s resolve: “It shows the Palestinian spirit.”

Abuhamdeh’s dream is to see the organization continue to grow.

"I want to be in every mosque, every Islamic school, every Muslim community," she said, "so there is a nationwide network of troops, and we equip them with the skills they need to be leaders."

Sharon Williams, 58, overheard some concerning talk among the residents at the apartment complex where she lives with her mother.

Some of the residents at Homer G. Phillips Senior Apartments in St. Louis said they turned their heat off during the day because they didn’t want their utility bills getting too high. In the Midwest, where temperatures can quickly drop below freezing, this can be life-threatening for older people, who are much more susceptible to hypothermia.

Williams, who is the president of the residents association, reached out to a representative of Ameren, the power company serving St. Louis, whom she had met at a senior fair. She asked her to help the residents in her complex sign up for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), a federally funded initiative that provides eligible households with financial help for energy costs.

Williams explained that the residents were unlikely to have learned about the program on their own: “Most of them don’t have vehicles or use the internet regularly,” she said. Ameren agreed to send a representative with applications for the program. Williams set up a table in the lobby, brought a printer so people could print out their bills and assured the skeptics that it wasn’t a scam.

That event was three years ago, and it was such a success that Williams has kept it up ever since. She and her mom qualify for a small monthly subsidy, as well.

“It’s been a tremendous help because my mother has a lot of medications, and I have a lot of mobility issues,” she said.

Sandy Padgett, executive director of the Consumers Council of Missouri, a consumer advocacy nonprofit, wants more people to be aware that they can do something about the rising cost of utilities, which have outpaced inflation and wages in recent years.

She points out that many Missouri utility companies are again asking for rate increases: Ameren has asked for a 15% rate increase from the Missouri Public Service Commission; Missouri American Water is seeking a 41% increase for households, plus doubling their monthly customer charge; natural gas company Spire has proposed an 18% rate increase and a 20% increase in the monthly customer charge; the Metropolitan (St. Louis) Sewer District has begun initiating a 32% increase over the next four years; the St. Louis Water Division increased rates by 20% in July 2023 and by another 24% in January.

There’s always tension surrounding utilities, many of which have a monopoly on the services residents need to survive. But the Consumers Council fears the utility companies are heavily favored in Missouri, Padgett said.

“We are concerned about the amount of influence utilities may have on incoming Gov. Mike Kehoe, given the political donations he’s received from them,” she said. Kehoe has received about $600,000 in donations from utilities during his political career.

The council is pushing for better assistance programs for consumers, easier access to financial help, and transparency in the number and locations of disconnections.

Every state requires a public hearing before granting a rate hike. Showing up to testify at these hearings is one way to influence the decisions.

“That testimony is meaningful,” Padgett said. Unfortunately, she added, “some hearings only have a handful of people,” which doesn't reflect the scale of the affordability problem.

Ameren disconnected more than 16,000 Missouri households in September, and more than 17,000 in October. “That shows people are having trouble paying their bills,” Padgett said.

People experiencing financial hardship or surviving on limited incomes may try to ration heating or cooling in ways that could lead to hospitalization or even death, in extreme cases. Beyond poor health outcomes, access to utilities is tied to the ability to survive in many other ways. Those cut off from electricity cannot refrigerate food, for instance. If a home is excessively cold or hot, children cannot do their schoolwork.

Williams, who recognized the challenges facing residents in her building, took action to make sure they could access the assistance available. Utility companies ought to take a proactive approach in sending representatives to areas with high disconnection rates or delinquencies to make sure customers enroll -- and stay enrolled -- in programs that can help them.

Prioritize keeping vulnerable people warm during the winter over seeking even greater profits.

The shocking murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson opened the floodgates of people sharing how health insurance companies’ denials have devastated their lives.

Most of us have heard stories of callous and capricious decisions by health insurance providers. I didn’t realize how common and cruel these denials can be until this past week.

I asked a Facebook group of moms if any of them could share a personal experience with a health insurance claim. I was taken aback by the outpouring of responses.

Ashley Berhorst, 43, of Wentzville, Missouri, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer in February. She underwent 16 rounds of chemotherapy, followed by a tougher type of chemo known as the “red devil” for its often-vicious side effects.

UHC denied her a shot, Neulasta, that is commonly administered during chemo to protect from infection. Her oncologist was stunned. After all, a fever is a potentially deadly situation for a cancer patient with a port. After going back and forth between the doctor’s office and a peer-to-peer review board, UHC still denied the shot.

The next week, Berhorst ended up in the ER with a fever and low white blood cell count.

“It put me in a very vulnerable position that I shouldn’t have been put in,” she said. “They don’t care if I die. But my kids do. And my family does.”

UHC finally approved the shot after Berhorst's hospitalization. She survived that close call, but how many others aren’t so lucky?

Jennifer Grotpeter, 57, splits her time between Webster Groves, Missouri, and Lawrence, Kansas. While driving on the highway in May, her vision turned into a kaleidoscope. She made her way over to the shoulder, hitting the guardrail.

“It was terrifying,” she said.

Based on her symptoms, her doctor suggested she see a specialist for POTS, a blood circulation disorder. The specialist in St. Louis was not accepting new patients, so she found a POTS clinic at the University of Kansas Medical Center -- only to learn that Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield would not cover treatment.

Grotpeter, who is retired, spent hours on the phone every day for a week with her insurance company. She waited on hold for hours at a time. Her doctor filled out all the necessary paperwork. She sent reams of faxes of her medical records. Of all the people she eventually spoke to on the phone, no two ever told her the same thing.

She asked one representative: “How do people who are not retired do this? Do you just let them be sick?”

When a representative told her to call back the next day, Grotpeter ran out of patience.

“I would rather let this condition kill me than ever call the number on the back of that card again,” she said. She switched to an insurance provider that cost her twice as much, but covered her care.

Her biggest issue with her POTS is low blood pressure, which can cause a medical emergency while driving.

“Maybe Anthem was trying to cure me by having their total s--- ‘customer service’ shoot my blood pressure through the roof,” she said sarcastically.

Laura Pogue, 42, of O’Fallon, Missouri, had a badly needed surgery in 2017 to repair a severe diastasis recti and an umbilical hernia. After giving birth, the fascia that encased her abdomen were shredded. Her abdominal muscles separated so far that she could feel her own intestines. It also caused terrible back pain.

After several meetings between her doctors and Blue Cross Blue Shield, her insurance provider said the surgeries would be covered. But after surgery, they denied the claims because of how the surgeon described the procedure in a report.

“It was not considered a complete repair of the hernia,” she said.

Pogue appealed the decision. It was denied. Her only option was to hire a lawyer, which she didn’t have the money to do. She fought the insurance company for a total of two years.

“Even when you do your homework and do all the things (they) tell you to do ... I jumped through all of their hoops, and I did everything right,” she said. She was still stuck with a $10,000 bill that took four years to pay off.

“So many people don’t realize this can happen to you,” she said.

These nightmare scenarios of near death and financial ruin should serve as a wakeup call for legislators, the insurance industry and all of us who put our health in their hands.