The Salad Bowl December 23, 2009

The “Salad Bowl” has replaced the “melting pot” as an analogy for the USA. A melting pot requires ingredients to give up their individual flavor. A salad, on the other hand, needs each ingredient to retain its uniqueness and participate in the overall flavor. The salad is meant to provide girl and adult Girl Scouts with resources and ideas to recognize, celebrate, and participate in the River Valleys “salad.” Bertrene Cage welcome comments and suggestions at 800-845-0708 or girlscouts@girlscourtsrv.org.

Feast of Okambondondo

Okambondondo is a children’s harvest festival celebrated in the villages of Angola. It has no given date but may be celebrated at any time during the harvest season (February to April) and is sometimes celebrated more than once in a given year. For this celebration the children usually divide into groups, six to ten year olds meeting at one house, eleven to fifteen year olds in another, and those sixteen and older having their own feast in yet a third house. Each child brings a contribution to the feast. The boys bring dried fish or meat, and the girls bring cornmeal, beans, and corn. The children gather in the evening to play games and tell folk stories. Then the girls go to sleep in the kitchen while the boys sleep in another part of the house. At about one or two o’clock in the morning, the girls wake up and begin to cook the feast. When it is ready, they run to awaken the boys. They all eat together then leave the house for the village common, where there is singing and more games. At the first sign of dawn, they gather the remaining food from their feast to carry home for their parents to enjoy while they have a much needed rest.

Upcoming celebrations

January

18 – Martin Luther King Day

27 – World Holocaust Victims Remembrance Day

30 – Tu B’Shevat (Arbor Day)

February

Black History Month

American Heart Month

1 – National Freedom Day

2 – Groundhog Day

4 – World Cancer Day

14 – Valentine’s Day

15 – Presidents’ Day

17 – Ash Wednesday

20 – World Day of Social Justice

28 – Purim

The Salad Bowl September 30, 2009

The “Salad Bowl” has replaced the “melting pot” as an analogy for the USA. A melting pot requires ingredients to give up their individual flavor. A salad, on the other hand, needs each ingredient to retain its uniqueness and participate in the overall flavor. The Salad is meant to provide girl and adult Girl Scouts with resources and ideas to recognize, celebrate and participate in the River Valleys’ “salad.” Bertrene Cage welcomes comments and suggestions at 763-971-4046 or bertrene.cage@girlscourtsrv.org.

National Disability Employment Awareness Month

Diversity means differences. Human diversity means differences among people. It’s all of us in our rich and infinite variety. So in October we celebrate people who are differently-abled.

Congress designated each October as National Disability Employment Awareness Month. This effort to educate the American public about issues related to disability and employment actually began in 1945, when Congress enacted a law declaring the first week of October as “National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week.” In 1962, the word “physically” was removed to acknowledge the employment needs and contributions of individuals with all types of disabilities. In the 1970s, a historic shift in disability public policy occurred. For the first time, the exclusion of people with disabilities was viewed as discrimination. The efforts of disability activists led to significant changes in laws, such as the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 and the designation of a full month to recognize the potential of America’s 30 million working-age people with disabilities.

October

Diversity Awareness Month

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

National Disability Employment Awareness Month

17 – Diwali (Buddhist, Hindu)

21 – Cirio de Nazare (Brazil)

25 – Mother-In-Law Day

31 – Reformation Day (Christian)

November

American Diabetes Month

National AIDS Awareness Month

National American Indian Heritage Month

1 – All Saints’ Day (Christian, Roman Catholic)

1 – Dia de los Muertos “Day of the Dead” (Mexico, Latin America)

2 – All Souls’ Day (Roman Catholic)

12 – Birthday of Baha’u'llah (Baha’i)

27 – Eid al-adha (Islamic, Muslim)

*Holy days usually begin at sundown the day before this date

The Salad Bowl: Leaving A Legacy Across Generations August 24, 2009

A Note on “The Salad Bowl”

The “Salad Bowl” has replaced the “melting pot” as an analogy for the USA. A melting pot requires ingredients to give up their individual flavor.  A salad, on the other hand, needs each ingredient to retain its uniqueness and participate in the overall flavor. The Salad is meant to provide girl and adult Girl Scouts with resources and ideas to recognize, celebrate, and participate in the River Valleys’ “salad.”  Bertrene Cage welcomes comments and suggestions at 763-971-4046 or bertrene.cage@girlscourtsrv.org.

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Leaving A Legacy Across Generations

Where do you think it’s best to plant a young tree: a clearing in an old growth forest or an open field? Ecologists tell us that a young tree grows better when it’s planted in an area with older trees. The reason, it seems, is that the roots of the young tree are able to follow the pathways created by former trees and implant themselves more deeply. Over time, the roots of many trees may actually graft themselves to one another, creating an intricate, interdependent foundation hidden under the ground. In this way, stronger trees share resources with weaker ones so that the whole forest becomes healthier.

-Excerpt from “What is Legacy?” by Susan V. Bosak at http://www.legacyproject.org/guides/legacy.html

Like trees, humans rely on the history of older generations to strengthen us. Research shows children need four to six involved, caring adults in their lives to fully develop emotionally and socially. Research also shoes that without a sense of helping those who come after them and working to create a legacy, adults lose meaning in their life. So legacy is fundamental to what it is to be human. Exploring the idea of legacy offers a glimpse not only into relationships and building strong communities, but also the human spirit.

Today, more than 13 percent of the US population is 65 years or older. By the year 2030, one in every five Americans will be older than 65, totaling 70 million. For the first time in history, there will soon be more people of grandparent age than children and youth. These older adults are more educated, active, and healthier than elders of decades past.

Our lives are enriched by our connections with people older and younger than ourselves. All it takes is the time and willingness to get to know each other. The grandfriend (an interchangeable term to describe a non-related older adult or youth that have developed a friendship) relationship is perhaps one of the most important of these relationships. It is, in fact, second in emotional importance only to the parent/child relationship. Older grandfriends can bring a sense of history, unconditional love, and support and advice. Younger grandfriends can bring a sense of the present, exuberant love, and a meaningful purpose. Older grandfriends are keepers of our heritage; younger grandfriends are forgers of our future.

Our fast-moving world of planned obsolescence does little to give us a legacy base. Everyone catapults forward to the next “newest” trend. Anything old gets tossed in the trash. Inevitably, we tend to believe that nothing endures, nothing lasts – thus the crisis of meaning. Without meaning, there can be no hope. Consciously refocusing on and building stronger relationships across generations, especially between older and younger grandfriends, can restore meaning and hope. Being a grandfriend is a role and a stage in life in which we find significant meaning and a fulfillment of our need for legacy.

Below are some resources for your troop to create a legacy with your grandfriends:

• Bridging the Gap – a program kit that connects young and old by offering fun, information, ideas, activities, resources, and books to establish meaningful relationships with older adults.
• www.igrandparents.com – a comprehensive grandfriend website filled with a wealth of information, ideas, fun activites, advice, support, and links to enrich the lives of grandfriends young and old.
• Bosak, Susan V. Something to Remember Me By – a story about love and legacies that has touched the hearts of children and adults across the country.

*Information for this article was obtained from Something to Remember Me By Legacy Project, www.somethingtoremembermeby.org.