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Girl Scouts -
Irish Hills Council Troop #131 from Grass Lake saw their hard
work pay off with a national win in the ‘Dare to Share Cookie
Activity Challenge’. Girl Scouts of the United States of
America (GSUSA), headquartered in New York,
challenged all Girl Scouts with a national contest called ‘Dare
to Share’ relating to cookie activity participation and geared
to show how the girls help to make the world a better place.
Troops had to show their efforts through a poster or photograph
in one of the following categories: (1) Discover - why girls
sell cookies, goal setting, booth sales, definition of
philanthropy, handling money; (2) Connect - create a plan,
practice your plan, identifying customers, safety; or (3) Take
Action - complete service or philanthropy work.
Troop entries
were to be submitted to local councils. Entries were then
judged by council staff with top entries being forwarded to
GSUSA in New York. In April, Troop #131 was one of two troops
chosen to represent Girl Scouts - Irish Hills Council (GSIHC)
whose membership includes girls from Jackson, Lenawee and
Hillsdale Counties as well as the communities of Homer and
Albion.
Junior Troop
#131’s submission was a 5’ x 5’ square poster, bearing a 4’ x 4’
circle titled “One World –
One Chance – Our Big Responsibility!” It had a US
map inside the circle along with the troop’s name and 22
photographs on the outside of the circle showing their community
service projects.
From
November 2007 to March 2008 the girls worked a combined total of
141 service hours. They:
·
Baked and delivered cookies to
seniors at a local care home; they also played a keyboard, sang
Christmas songs and read books to seniors
·
Sought donations and made Easter
baskets for Jackson foster children
·
Ran a community-wide Goodwill
household drop off site
·
Volunteered in their community of
Grass Lake, handing out flyers for the Fall Festival and serving
cookies at the Grass Lake Depot at Christmas
·
Their biggest achievement has been
an on-going project of supporting military service members
serving overseas. The girls collected money, made and decorated
over 150 Christmas stockings, raised donations to fill the
stockings, solicited donations for 173 boxes of Girl Scout
cookies which they sent to our soldiers, and helped Operation
Care Package Michigan pack boxes for military troops.
On July 7th,
Wendy Murdock, Leader of Troop #131, received a telephone call
from GSUSA stating that the girls in her troop were national
winners! Out of 140 entries overall, their poster was chosen as
the #1 submission for Take
Action in grades 1-5. The girls will receive a
letter of participation, a certificate and patch. In August,
they will all receive a copy of the new Journeys (It’s Your
World-Change It!) a brand new, innovative Girl Scout book.
A party
is also in the works!
Junior Troop #131 Girls:
4th graders
- Aspen Raguso, Caitlyn Gallagher, Callee Beck, Carlie Murdock,
Chesney Shoemaker, Isabeau Mallast, Jade Thatcher, Madeline
Brunt, Maria Carrillo, Taylor Laimon and Zoey Bommarito;
5th grader
- Tasha Perry. Leader:
Wendy Murdock. Co‑Leader:
Janine Mallast.
Look for their
work at:
źGirl
Scouts USA (around July 21st ):
http://www.girlscouts.org/program/gs_cookies/cookie_winners.asp
źIn
addition, a smaller version (3’ x 4’) of the poster can be seen
as an entry at the Jackson County Fair during the first week in
August.
źTo
be displayed at the Girl Scout National Meeting in October in
Indianapolis, IN |
