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.

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

Donation to support Camp Lakamaga June 9, 2009

Linda Keene, Phyllis Willerscheidt, Linda Hudepohl, Steve Hudepohl, and Jan Johnson.

Linda Hudepohl and Jan Johnson from the North Pines Service Unit presented a check for $4,500 to Linda Keene, CEO and Phyllis Willerscheidt, Board Chair. The donation represents proceeds from last year’s Camp Spookamaga and will be used to support girl programming at Camp Lakamaga. Camp Spookamaga is an annual Halloween event created by Girl Scout troops and adult volunteers for Girl Scouts and their families and friends.  It’s an opportunity for families to visit Camp Lakamaga, celebrate Juliette Gordon Low’s birthday, and for older girls to display their creativity, leadership, and organizational skills. The event will be held this year on October 10.

Linda and volunteers from the North Pines Service Unit represent the thousands of amazing volunteers who support Girl Scouting through the leading and executing of great girl programming and investment of financial resources.

Girl Scout Troop 21305 Donates Cookies to Soldiers May 13, 2009

The Girl Scouts of Troop 21305 chose several charitable ways to use their cookie proceeds. They  donated $0.02 per box sold to a local food shelf, which amounted to $60. They also sent donations to the residents of the apartment fire in Montgomery, Minn., where one girl’s mom was living. All residents of the building were displaced. Additionally, the girls chose to send cookies to soldiers — particularly, Lieutenant Colonel Brian Pfarr, older brother of one of their classmates.

The girls received the following letter of thanks:

Rosewood Girl Scouts Make Quilts April 2, 2009

Three troops from the Rosewood Service Unit of Girl Scouts made quilts this month for children in hospitals.
Some of the 17 fourth- through seventh-grade girls who participated in the event March 7 had never used a sewing machine before. They sewed blocks which consisted of a front, batting, and a back, and adult volunteers assembled the blocks into finished quilts.

The quilts will be donated to Sewing Angels, a nonprofit group that gives quilts and blankets to seriously ill or traumatized children in local hospitals.
The service unit, which includes schools from Roseville, Maplewood, and Falcon Heights, has been hosting the annual event to make quilts for charity for nine years.

The Mother Bear Project February 4, 2009

Girl Scout Junior Troop 10286 from St. Francis stuffed crocheted bears for The Mother Bear Project, who sends crocheted bears to children in Africa who have been affected by HIV/AIDS. This is what they had to say:

• “It’s fun to help people.” – Maria, age 10
• “Fun to be able to stuff the bears.” – Kailey, age 10
• “We’re going to make a lot of little kids in Africa happy.” – Caitlin, age 10
• “I definitely want to do this again.” – Katrina, age 11

Troop 51752 donates to RAGOM February 4, 2009

Sydney, Emily, and Natalie (Troop 51752) worked all weekend at Camp Sagata making 25 kennel blankets for Retrieve A Golden Of Minnesota (RAGOM) for their Girl Scout Silver Award. Good job girls! The girls have also worked with RAGOM on various activities such as face painting at the Slice of Shoreview and helping out with their annual 5K walk at Snail Lake Park this past summmer!

Watertown-Mayer Girl Scouts collect food donations February 3, 2009

The Watertown-Mayer Service Unit was out and about in Watertown and Mayer, on Friday, December 19 caroling and collecting food donations for the Watertown Food Shelf! Girl Scouts of all program grade levels, from Girl Scout Daisy through Girl Scout Senior, along with their friends and families sang door-to-door and frolicked in the snow to raise donations for the local food shelf.

“It was lots of fun and I want to do it again next year!” said 2nd grade Girl Scout Brownie, Megan. That summed up the general consensus of all the Girl Scouts and their families. Many of the community members that we spoke with while caroling asked if we (the Girl Scouts) would be doing this again next year. “I think this is just wonderful,” said a community member who was sung to.

A total of 185 pounds of food were donated to the Watertown Food Shelf.

Girl Scouts Collect Pajamas in Lakeville January 23, 2009

Cherry View 4th grade Girl Scout Junior Troop 24506 collected pajamas for Minnesota’s kids in need. They collected more than 80 pajamas at Cherry View Elementary December 1 – December 12. The Minnesota Pajama Program will distribute the warm pajamas to kids all over Minnesota who need them. Thank you to Cherry View families for donating more than 80 pajamas!

By Cara, Troop 24506

Operation Cozy Toes December 19, 2008

Rochester Girl Scout Brownie Troop 40392 collected shoes to send to Afghanistan, where many families have a difficult time providing shoes for all their members. Much of their footwear is tattered, ill-fitting, and worn, as reported by troop member Rebecca’s uncle, a nurse stationed in Afghanistan.

The troop reached out to the community to collect shoes to send overseas as the service project component of the Take Action Key in their Brownie Quest. They called their project Operation Cozy Toes. Below are pictures of some of the families who received the girls’ donations.