The nine Girl Scouts from Troop 4074 who earned their Silver Award are, from left, Miranda Tyler, Bailey Lester, Victoria Smith, Mary Hilley, Brittani Savoy, Kathleen Flanagan, Erin Hook and Sarah Peters. Not pictured is Lauren Offer.
Published in The Capital 07/09/2009
The South County Assistance Network, which operates out of St. James' Episcopal Church in Lothian, serves an average of 169 families per month. The group, staffed by volunteers from 36 participating churches, provides a bag of groceries each week to south county families who are having trouble making ends meet.
With the downturn in the economy, SCAN volunteers have noticed an increase in new families coming to the network each month seeking assistance - sometimes as many as two dozen new families a month.
So early this year, when a group of local Girl Scouts, the cadets of Troop 4074, based out of Franklin United Methodist Church in Churchton, offered to provide additional help to SCAN, their support was welcomed. At the time, the nine girls had already been working toward their Silver Award, the second highest honor in Girl Scouting.
For the award, the 13- and 14-year-olds, are required to earn badges and take on projects that demonstrate leadership. Another is to take on a significant community service project.
In all, the girls needed to spend 40 hours each on the project, either with the group, or individually.
Troop leader Kathy Flanagan said that over the years, the girls had worked with SCAN, collecting food donations and volunteering. Marrying the effort of the girls to earn their Silver Award with a project for SCAN seemed natural.
"The girls learned that SCAN clients often request personal care items in addition to the other staples," Kathy said. Personal care items are something that SCAN doesn't typically provide.
So the girls decided to create kits containing a variety of personal care items.
Kathleen Flanagan, 14, is Kathy's daughter and one of the Scouts.
"Most of my hours were spent with group activities: raising money, shopping for what we needed, and bagging the items," Kathleen said.
The girls hosted two bake sales, placed donation boxes at a local church, held a Chick-Fil-A fundraiser, and solicited contributions from other local Girl Scout troops.
Kathleen noted that they bought items from the local dollar store with the money they raised.
"We bought toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, razors, soap and deodorant," Kathleen said.
Once the items were purchased, the girls gathered at SCAN at the end of June to create individual care packages containing one of each item. They put the care package kits into the prepared bags containing the weekly grocery deliveries.
The girls not only collected enough to fill over 155 personal care kits, but they also gathered another 20 bags of miscellaneous items that SCAN can distribute in the future as needed.
"I thought it was a lot of work, but in the end, it was worth it because I was able to help a lot of people who aren't as fortunate as we are," said Erin Hook, 14.
In all the girls have been together as Scouts for six years. Four years ago, they earned their Bronze Award by creating a garden at Franklin United Methodist Church.
The nine girls will bridge to seniors - the next rank in their Scout careers - at the end of the summer. At that time, they will officially take possession of their Silver Award.
The nine girls are: Miranda Tyler, Bailey Lester, Victoria Smith, Mary Hilley, Brittani Savoy, Kathleen Flanagan, Erin Hook, Sarah Peters and Lauren Offer.
The Shady Side Rural Heritage Society's annual raffle is now underway. The raffle, with a top prize of $5,000, began with ticket sales during the South County Festival on June 13.
This year, there has been a major change in pricing and the prize, owing to recognition of current economic conditions. The tickets this year will cost $5 each. The prize is $5,000.
The winning ticket will be selected at the Society's West River Heritage Day Oyster Festival at the Capt. Salem Avery House Museum on Oct. 18. The drawing will take place at 5 p.m.
In all, 2,000 tickets will be sold. This is the 20th year the society has conducted the raffle. The proceeds go toward needed building improvements and operational expenses for the Capt. Salem Avery House Museum in Shady Side.
Tickets are available at the museum, 1418 East West Shady Side Road, and other locations in Shady Side, or by calling 410-867-4486.
Send your south county news to AroundSoCo@ verizon.net
No comments:
Post a Comment