Girl Scout vegetable garden October 19, 2009

Mound Girl Scout Troop 12415 planted a vegetable garden in May and donated produce throughout the summer to the Westonka Food Shelf. The final harvest of the season was Friday, October 9. In total, the girls donated more than 100 pounds of food over the course of the growing season using seeds, a few donated plants, and girl power!

Jack Wiest coordinated the produce deliveries to the Westonka food shelf, and free use of the garden plot was provided by Our Lady of the Lake Church.

See more photos on River Valleys’ Facebook page.

Jordan Girl Scout Bronze Award Project October 9, 2009

Jordan Girl Scout Junior Troop 21220 spent time planting flowers around Lagoon park in Jordan. This community service opportunity was just one of many planned activities to help the troop earn their Girl Scout Bronze Award. The girls have chosen the theme “Beautifying Our Community” and will also be organizing the Adopt-a-Highway fall clean-up and a holiday decorating project for local community businesses. They are also spending time within their own homes with recycling and yard projects.

The troop leaders and girls met this summer and we asked the girls what they wanted their troop year and Bronze Award project to be. They really enjoy non-traditional troop meetings that allow them to explore new ideas and concepts. The girls are also really busy with other extracurricular activities, so we also wanted this year to be more flexible to meet the demands of their schedules without overwhelming them. The conversation about this type of meeting generated a lot of ideas for a project and as we put them on paper, they all fell around the general theme of “beautifying our community.” We discussed what the word “community” meant. They said things like: buildings, schools, people, your city, or even a family. Those conversations evolved into a plan for this year.



We took their ideas and did some research: Linda Steinhoff, troop leader, contacted the City of Jordan and asked if there were any projects with which our troop could help; that turned into our Lagoon Park planting project. I contacted the manager at the Schule Haus and asked what we could do; that will be our valentines card making project to be delievered to the residents. The girls really wanted to do something else that could be seen around town; that will become our handmade holiday decorations that will be distributed around to community businesses.



Some of the  girls have also worked on building Teraya’s Garden, a community garden at Jordan Elementary School dedicated to the memory of a student who was killed in a car accident last year. The troop is sponsoring this year’s Jordan Service Unit Adopt-a-Highway Fall Clean-up, as well as recycling and helping with home projects and planting trees this Spring. The girls are looking forward to finding other ways to contribute to their community.

-Carrie Speikers, troop leader

Girl Scout Troop 13433 at Feed My Starving Children September 23, 2009

Our first service projects of the year was a great success! Seven girls, as well as their families and leaders, joined other volunteers at Feed My Starving Children to pack nutritious meals for children around the world. The result was 7,992 meals (enough to feed 22 children for a year) packed in two hours. Afterward we were allowed to help say a prayer over the meals before they left. We also got to see how many Girl Scout Brownies could fit in a sack which holds a ton of rice. If you’ve been there, you will certainly remember, “chicken, veggies, soy, rice!” We would encourage every troop to try out this great service project. Our girls are already planning their next trip back!

Girls who attended: Ana, Analise, Anna, Ellie, Emma, Leah, and Paula.

- Troop 13433

Girl Scout Garden Tour September 22, 2009

On Sunday, August 30, Girl Scouts, along with Operation Christmas Child, hosted a garden tour with master gardener Jane Horn. Jane’s garden is in Prior Lake. It was absolutely beautiful. Jane gave her talk so that it included all the information for Girl Scout Brownies and Juniors to earn a badge and for Cadette and above to be well on their way to an interest patch. Admission to the event was a donation of school supplies to be used at the Girl Scouts box packing party in October or early November.

Kristine DCamp, leader of Troop 21594 had 4 girls from her troop.  Luanne Anderson leader of Troops 10519 – 2 girls; 10651 – 3 girls; and 11202 – 2 girls.

Laura, Wednesday, Maggie, Miranda, Michele, Krista, Grace, Kyla, Jane Horn, Heidi, and Hannah. Not pictured: Simone.

Jane, the master gardener, was a girl scout herself.  She wore her Girl Scout pins from when she was a girl. The girls that attended thought it was really great that she still had her pins and so proudly wore them.

Master gardener Jane Horn's Girl Scout pins

Girl Scouts help at Operation GreenTouch June 23, 2009

Last month Round Lake Girl Scout Cadettes, with the help of Girl Scout Juniors (not pictured), went to Kilen Woods in Lakefield, Minn., to help clean up the park as part of Operation GreenTouch in partnership with Federated Rural Electric. The girls cleaned the shelter house and painted picnic tables.

Nicollet Girl Scouts Bronze Award project June 4, 2009

As part of their Bronze Award project, Nicollet Girl Scouts “adopted” a dilapidated garden area that was adjacent to the Nicollet Public School playground. It had become both an eyesore and a hazard – as teachers had to stand guard and keep students out of the area during recess. Some of the issues included rotten timbers, exposed pieces of rebar, torn landscape fabric, dead trees, and excessively overgrown bushes.
The girls had a representative come in from a local garden center and talk to them about what was in the garden and what could be done to save some of the existing bushes. The girls learned about the different types of bushes and when/how they should be trimmed. They looked at magazines and drew up plans for what they wanted the garden to look like. They took measurements and determined what supplies were needed.

Last fall, the girls began the cleanup process. They raked out leaves and garbage, pulled weeds, and parents helped cut down the dead tree.  The girls helped to prune out the bushes that needed to go. In the winter, the Junior Girl Scouts went back and did a substantial amount of trimming. The troop also made stepping stones for the garden.  The girls wrote up a letter to request supplies from local businesses and put together a display board and scrapbook to document their project. Early this spring, the troop did a final cleanup/ground prep session.

In May the troop members and parents gathered to complete the project after the troop received the following donations: two truckloads of mulch/bark, 400 square feet of landscape fabric, four replacement landscape timbers, new rebar to secure the timbers, and $25 worth of bedding plants. Over three hours on a Saturday morning, the garden was transformed! The girls helped replace the timbers, lay the landscape fabric, haul and spread the bark, lay their stepping stones and plant flowers. The result was spectacular!

Check out more amazing photos on River Valleys Facebook fan page.

Adopting a Soldier May 21, 2009

by Audrea Horejsi
Ellendale/Geneva Girl Scout troop leader

In July 2008, while looking for projects for our Girl Scout troop to work on for the coming school year, I read an article about another troop that had “adopted a soldier” and thought it sounded like a wonderful idea and a great experience for the girls.  I contacted www.mysoldier.com, and they sent me the contact information for a soldier currently serving in Iraq.  They also sent me some red bracelets for each of the Girl Scouts to wear, symbolizing their part of adopting a soldier. Each girl in the troop has been given one to wear if and when they wish.

Our soldier’s name is Charles (Charlie) Enebrad. He grew up on the coast in South Carolina and worked on shrimp boats before joining the military.  The movie “Forest Gump” was filmed in his hometown. He joined the military at age 17 and has been an active member for nine years now.  He is stationed out of Fort Lewis, Washington and is an army fire fighter currently working with a construction unit in Nasariyah, Iraq. He has been married for six years and has a four-year-old son and twin two-year-old daughters, whom he says he wants to join the Girl Scouts as soon as they are able to; he feels it is a wonderful organization to be a part of. He currently has 122 soldiers in his company.

Of the 18 girls that currently attend Girl Scouts in Ellendale/Geneva, 16 wrote letters to Charlie in November 2008, and he, along with a fellow soldier named Logan Hastings from St. Paul, Minn., wrote an individual letter back to each and every girl. They thought that was pretty cool and they each have taken their letters home to keep. Along with the letters, we made and sent some Christmas decorations, hand-crafted with construction paper, glue, glitter, puff balls, markers, and crayons. The girls were very creative, and the decorations looked awesome. When Charlie received the decorations, he hung them up for everyone in his company to see and enjoy throughout the holiday season and wrote to tell us it added a “touch of home” for the soldiers.

In February, we hand-crafted Valentine decorations for Charlie and his company, and he also hung those up for everyone to see and enjoy.

The month of February was a sad one for Charlie as one of his friends was killed in a road side bomb in Iraq and left behind a wife and four children.  I’m sure Charlie probably sees, hears about, and deals with this type of thing on a daily basis, but it is even harder when it is one of his own and a personal friend.

Charlie sent us some photos in February showing the large trucks he drives over in Iraq and the girls were in awe when they saw the size of them.

Most recently, the girls each bought and donated Girl Scout cookies for Charlie and the other soldiers, and we sent them right to his attention in Iraq.

He sent back pictures showing many of the soldiers sorting through and eating the cookies as they unpacked them. He said we have no idea how much they all appreciate and LOVE Girl Scout cookies – another little touch of home to them.

The girls and I have totally enjoyed our activities and communications revolving around Charlie, and we are looking forward to more. We plan to stay in communication with Charlie for the duration of his stay in Iraq. We feel like we know Charlie, even though we have never personally met him and probably never will. We talk about him as we would someone we see and talk to every day. Our communication with him has meant a lot to us and it probably always will. I think the girls in the troop, who range from ages 5-10, will all remember Charlie when they look back and think about the days they were a Girl Scout.

Update

The girls were touched and honored to receive the following letter from Charlie:

Hello,

I have a “special gift” for your troop. I have an American Flag that was flown out here in Iraq that I plan on sending to you once I get home. A certificate will accompany it stating such. I hope it is something that can express the gratitude my guys and I have for your troop. I cannot thank you for the overwhelming support you have provided during my time here. I still have a month or so to go, and I am busy as ever, but I just wanted to let you know I will be sending this so you will have something to look forward to … Thanks again and God bless.

Charlie

Brownie Troop 11548 visit Feed My Starving Children May 1, 2009

Troop 13739 Collects More than 3,000 Caps for Caps Off with Girl Scouts April 27, 2009

Troop 13739 celebrates their success in collecting more than 3,000 caps for Caps Off with Girl Scouts. Not only did the third grade girls collect these on an individual basis, they also partnered with their school and fellow students at Gleason Lake Elementary in Wayzata, Minn., to raise awareness and participation in the program.

The girls made posters to educate and promote the program at school and had announcements made during the lunch hour. Fellow students were encouraged to recycle the caps from their water bottles at lunchtime as well as collect caps at home and deposit them in the Caps Off buckets placed in the cafeteria and main lobby of the school.

Woodbury Girl Scouts produce Caps Off Skit April 6, 2009

Girl Scout Brownie Troop 52970 (Woodbury Service Unit) created and performed a puppet skit as part of a presentation for staff at their school (Harambee Environmental Science and Community Cultures School in Maplewood). They asked that the school implement the Aveda Cap Recycling program on a permanent basis. They want to educate students and families about what is happening with caps that end up in landfills, rivers, and oceans. They will use designated proceeds from Cookies 4 a Change to create a display and collection bin in the school lobby. The girls are also preparing an interactive display for the upcoming school science fair as an effort to spread the word to everyone. Their presentation was a hit with staff and their proposal has been approved.

Pictured

Front row: Stephanie, Alyissa, and Josie. Second Row: Elizabeth, Abby, Alana, Kendra, Savannah, and Olivia. Third Row: Makehba, Asha, and Mariah.