Dear Ellen Please find attached the file compilation, if you can't read it let me know. It will need tidying up before putting on a site but I have no objections. Would you need to check with the people who sent in the ideas? All their addresses are on the file anyway. Amanda Ellen Davis wrote: > >Speaking of which I am still happy to send out copies of the service > >ideas compilation all 30+ pages (So far 92 requests!!!!!). > > > > Amanda, > > I would like a copy of the service ideas compilation. If I find time, I > may put it on my web site. If that is OK with you. > > Ellen Davis > Ellen.Davis@uc.edu Dear All Listed below is my compliation of the response I have had from the WAGGGS-L list, some of the messages are themselves compilations and are therefore very long. Each message I recieved is sep[erated by a line of =========. I have left on all of the addresses in case you need further explaination from the original poster, I hope you find it as useful as I have. Amanda Subject: service projects Date:Fri, 7 May 1999 08:04:25 +0000 From: mreicks@turkey-v.k12.ia.us To: aandb@FOWLER2.U-NET.COM Amanda- A list of service projects would be endless- I'll try to list just a few we've done recently: landscaped the building where we hold our meetings and maintain it built a bluebird trail around our school grounds and maintain it designed a town sign and donated toward new town signs purchased Girl Scout signs which we put up under our town signs donated books to school library tie balloon animals at our school carnival (over 400 balloons in 3 hours!) make balloon animals at Ronald McDonald House (where families of criticallyill children can stay while there child receives treatment) collected winter clothing for school children collect food pantry items entertained at Senior meal site made thank you notes for our Girl Scout council to use made cookies for our sponsors collected toiletry items for women's shelter collected markers, pencils... and sent to Sangam sang carols at nursing homes Just a few- if you need more let me know. YiGGGS, Mary Reicks northeast Iowa USA ============================== Subject: Re: GSUSA Wider ops ? and service projects Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 10:16:37 -0000 From: "PMCGEE" To: "Amanda" Hi, Amanda, No, Wider Ops are *generally* not service-oriented (with the notable exception of Juliette Low Camp). Silver Awards and Gold Awards culminate in a big service project, however. I think most troops in the USA are weak in the service area. We have fallen into a trap, like everybody else has--what can we do *for* our girls (or what can they learn to do for themselves), instead of how can we help the girls see how their skills can be used to help others. You've undoubtedly noticed the complaints about the service component of the Cadette/Senior Interest Projects. IMHO, most of those complaints are grossly exaggerated. Okay, so what's my troop's contribution to your list? The girls have recently decided to undertake teaching a dog-bite prevention class, hopefully at our local mall, next spring. They will also participate in a beach clean up (we live near Lake Michigan in the USA) in October. Are you planning to put your ideas on a website? If so, I would love to link our Cadette site to yours--we have a monthly listing of "Good Turns" which, unfortunately, is in desperate need of updating, which I am unable to do right now due to our recent computer crash. Good luck! Laura McGee PMCGEE@prodigy.net Girl Scouts of the Calumet Council (NW Indiana USA, just SE of Chicago) ================================ Subject: Re: GSUSA Wider ops ? and service projects Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 10:05:07 EDT From:GSLdrKay@aol.com To: aandb@fowler2.u-net.com HREF="http://www.gsusa.org/girls/Go/Widerops/Widerops99/wider99.htm#1999+Wider +Opportunities">Wider Opportunities 1999 ============================================ Subject: Re: GSUSA Wider ops ? and service projects Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 07:18:07 -0700 From: tizatt@isat.com (Terri Izatt) To: "Amanda" I'm sure you'll get lots of responses...since wider ops have nothing to do with service projects. Wider Ops are a short way of saying Wider Opportunity, a special trip that girls from every council can apply to attend. Every year there are many (around 50) Wider Opportunities sponsered by different councils through out the US. Girls (the age is restrictions are determined by the sponsering council) apply through their own council and the applications are sent on to the sponsering council. Since there are so few opportunities compared to girls it is an honor to get selected to go. For service projects...our Service Unit has been involved with a local mine (we mine gold here in Nevada), planting trees. It has been very good for all involved to help with the mine reclaimation. We have als made cards for the local hospice center. The girls really enjoyed doing that. We are also getting ready to make the Friendship boxes mentioned in an earlier post that the American Red Cross delivers, and we may try contacting the GS council in OK for some scout to scout service. Hope that helps Terri Izatt (fern) Girl Scouts of Sierra Nevada ====================== Subject: service projects Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 07:49:19 -0700 From: "dentonfamily" To: My girls aren't teens 9-11 year olds. We do service every month. Somethings are just small, others are large. Every event we plan has something to do with service incorporated into it. This is what we did this year: Made about 13 apple pies for the community Thanksgiving Dinner Decorated the Senior Center with snowflakes for winter Decorated placemats for the Senior Center for Valentines Day Stenciled storm drains with reminders not to dump there Had an area wide clean up Gathered children's clothing for the homeless shelter Gathered toiletries for the teen shelter made May Day baskets for the women's abuse shelter (soap, shampoo and lotion) Did the ugly quilt project and made four quilted sleeping bags for the homeless Collected donations and purchased over 50 gifts for the area Christmas Party served punch and cookies, handed out hats at the Christmas Party Made 71 health kits for Kosovo Refugees Helped the Friends of the Library with their book sale Sent over 60 boxes of cookies to servicemen overseas. I'm sure there are probably more but I can't remember them. Upcoming projects include making blankets and sleepers for premature babies and clearing hiking trails. Debbie LaConner, Washington ============================================== Subject:Service Projects for Teens Date: Fri, 07 May 1999 10:16:48 -0500 From: david scott Organization: me To: aandb@FOWLER2.U-NET.COM Amanda, Here are some service project ideas I have compiled for the Silver Award that our Cadettes can earn. Cadettes are 11-15. The Silver Award consists of earning certain badges (I won't go into detail) and then doing a service project as an individual or group. The service project must take 30 hours of planning and execution for each girl in the group. There is a similar, but more invovled award for older girls for which I have another list. Please let me know if you want that one, too. I have tried to translate GS and American terms you might not know the first time they appear. If I have missed any, please don't hesitate to let me know. YIGGGS, Sarah Project Ideas 1. Design a walking historic patch for your home town. 2. Have a dinner for the leaders on Leader's Day or during Girl Scout Week. 3. Design and make puppets for a day care center. 4. Make gifts for residents at a nursing home. 5. Plan and implement an event for other Girl Scouts. 6. Plan and implement a Try-It (Try-its are Brownie badges) day forBrownies. 7. Set up an educational display for the general public on a local matter (environmental, etc). 8. Making laminated placemats for a special group (Blind school, handicapped school, etc.) 9. Collecting food for the Humane Society and educating the public about unwanted pets. 10. Making alphabet books for pre-schoolers in Head Start (this is a program for disadvantaged preschoolers). 11. An International Fair for the Service Unit (local Scouting group usually comprised of several schools). 12. A special Daisy (=Rainbow Guides) event. 13. Create a local "patch" about your council (large geographic area). 14. Plan the annual Service Unit campout. 15. Plan and conduct a Brownie campout for all troops. 16. Learn to quilt, crochet, or knit, then teach it to others to makesomething for a local group. 17. Build and decorate bookcases and fill them with donated books for a shelter, Head Start, etc. 18. Start an after-school homework helper for younger kids. 19. Organize a 1-day event with science/math activities. 20. Establish an old-fashioned herb garden or touch, smell, feel garden at a park. 21. Organize a 1-day hiking/outdoor adventure day for disabled youth. 22. Organize a Seniors Prom (formal dance for the elderly based on the formal dances held each year in the spring for the oldest High School students). 23. Prepare an illustrated what-to-do book for the area that includes kids activities, walking tours, annual events, fun things to do and see, local history, etc. 24. Organize a monthly dance for disabled youth/adults in the community. 25. Organize a girls career day. 26. Pack boxes of food collected for the local food bank. 27. Work with residents of the local Veterans Administration hospital. 28. Make an educational video on proper display, care, and disposal of the American flag. 29. Conduct a bike safety program with the local schools. 30. Put together a book and game cart for a homeless shelter. 31. Plan and organize a tree-planting weekend at a local park. 32. Safe Kids Day - fingerprinting, etc. 33. 8 girls collaborated on a training video for troops to use in Outdoor Skills (cooking, cleanup, firebuilding mainly). Each girl had a specific part (director, props, script, soundtrack, all were actors, etc.). We 'filmed' it in slide format. The local cable station worked with us to transfer it to videotape (using 1/2" master tape) as well as to do the voiceovers in their sound studio. A grant from Chevron allowed us to make about 80 copies which we distributed all over the Council (San Francisco Bay). Made the tape 6 years ago and it's still in use and I still get the occasional compliment. 34. Quilt for AIDS babies (very good project for my girl who was hospitalized with anorexia and could not get out of bed.) 35. One girl collected toiletries, including sending out lots of letters to dentists (for toothcare products) and dermatologists (for skin care products) then assembled them into kits and donated to thewomen's homeless shelter. 36. A small group sewed stuffed teddy bears and planned a party at our county's juvenile cottage (kids under 12?). They spent the afternoon playing games, doing crafts, refreshments, etc. and gave each child a bear as a party favor. 37. This project was shared by two girls. They planned, organized and ran a Teddy Bear Picnic! Had all brownies bring their teddy bears! Had contests! Best dressed, biggest, smallest etc! ribbons for all! made a paper teddy bear, played games and had a snack. Also a parade of teddies! also a small hospital area for bears that needed mending!! 38. Painting State capitols on a Map of the United States on school play ground. 39. A Winter Celebration Day for Daisies. They came and learned how other cultures celebrate the holiday of Chrismas! The made crafts and played games of the different cultures. 40. Leading a brownie troop in learning the promise in spanish and showing it at a Girl Scout gathering! also information was learned about Mexico for thinking day. 41. A Library Day!!! Reading to little ones in town at library making story related crafts and games! 42. Brownie Play Days for all levels of Brownies!!! All earned a try it! movers 43. My girls are building a wheelchair access to our local scout hut for their silver award. 44. My troop (4 girls in all) were all top students and had all earnedthe Reading IPP(badge). Our Service Unit (SU) had "adopted" a local charity’s efforts at providing a "safe place" for children after school and on weekends in some of our worst neighborhoods. They were getting old HUD (government agency for housing) type houses and fixing them up for educational and fun places for kids to go. My troop decided to build a library for one of the new centers. We solicited book donations from all of the troops in our SU as well as anyone we knew and our own personal collections of childrens books. Each book was sorted and catalogued according to our old friend, the Dewey Decimal system. With the proceeds of a garage sale they purchased a build-it-yourself cabinet specifically designed for this project to hold many of the books. They built the cabinet (all by themselves-it's not like I could help) and shelved the over 800 books that they collected. They collected posters, etc for decoration of the room. They made several sit-upons (waterproof pads for sitting on the ground) for use in the room and developed a simple check out system that required little maintenance for the volunteers running the center. They donated rubber stamps that stated "property of safe house" and stamped it in each book. 45. Another Cadette troop redecorated and filled a food pantry. 46. 3 girls in a troop lived in a neighborhood where a creek ran through the back of several homes. The erosion problems were so bad that the city wanted to just fill the creek up. With the help of the Army Corp of Engineers, the girls received a grant and a donation from the local homeowner's assoc to organize a clean up day using volunteers from the neighborhood, the neighborhood middle school, etc to come in make a lovely path with railroad ties, gravel, etc., and generally cleaned up the area and helped to prevent further erosion. They saved a greenbelt in the city. 47. Cadette Girl Scout Troop 1229 of Brandon, Florida is working with the creators of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series (with GSUSA's approval) to create Chicken Soup for the Girl Scout Soul They are gathering stories about experiences people have had with Girl Scouting. (Chicken Soup is a series of books each containing inspirationsl short stories and essays.) 48. Organize a Games Festival for 100 Brownies and their leaders 49. Help a Brownie troop do a play and bring it to a nursing home 50. Plan activities for children who come to a local food shelf (reading, crafts, songs) 51. Design a walking historic patch for your home town 52. Organize a Park Clean up and Planting Day. Check with city or greenhouses for donations. 53. Improvements at one of the Girl Scout camps, such as trail building, etc. 54. Producing a song or skit videotape, to be made available at council for loan to troops 55. Improvements at an area nature center 56. Service to community organizations that provide services to families: homeless shelters, shelters for battered women and their children, etc. 57. Coordinate and organize a "Father-Daughter" or a "Mother-Daughter" event 58. Organize a campaign to recruit volunteers to tape books for the blind 59. Book, games, clothing drives for shelters or for a children's hospital 60. Many organizations (nature center, hospital, shelters, etc) have a wish list - call and get ideas 61. Organize a neighborhood or parks cleanup 62. Yard or house cleanup or shopping service for elderly people or other shut-ins 63. Bluebird Project: build, distribute and maintain bluebird houses to help increase population (Bluebirds are on the decline because of loss of nesting sites) 64. Reading project - produce story hours at local libraries 65 . Plan a Horse Lovers' Clinic for our local children's museum 66. Compile a council resource on a destination 67. Developed a "Brownie Bridging Program" in Service Unit. The four components to the program are: skill training, troop training, bridging camporee, and the bridging ceremony (Bridging is the process of moving from one level of Scouting to another. There are specific steps to complete and a badge to be earned) 68. Developed an equipment lending/donation system for her Service Unit and created a craft booklet that complemented the materials available through the lending/donation system. 69. Developed a camping and outdoor education skill training for the Girl Scout Leaders. They also created several outdoor skills activity boxes for leaders use. 70. Organized a resource binder for the GS council which contains past Silver and Gold Award projects & promoted it 71. Developed 30 craft projects designed for a wide range of age groups, and created a "How-to" book that she donated to her Service Unit. Each project included a full set of instructions, a list of potential suppliers and a reference photograph illustrating each craft. 72. Planned and carried out a dinner for another group, like a shelter 73. Planned and ran a children's carnival at a school 74. Made a Girl Scout Camp Promotional Video 75. Designed the SU web site -- getting a free sponsor, securing the certificate, working with our council on things that could and could not be included, training leaders in managing the webpage, etc.; 76. One girl ran the Earth Matters patch program for Junior Girl Scouts (8-12 yrs) in our SU -- she secured a place (the National Wildlife Center), found consultants, trained helpers, purchased supplies, kept registration and health and safety information on each girl, etc. 77. One girl developed the Association (group of Service Units) newsletter -- working with 5 SU managers, the Assoc. team, etc. 78. My daughter ran the Sing America patch program at our encampment -- she was in charge of all ceremonial music, developed a program to teach the girls songs from different countries, put together an evaluation form, etc. 79. Another girl ran our Older Girl bridging weekend -- she developed the flyer inviting all bridging Junior and bridging Cadettes to camp for the weekend, she trained the Cadettes and Seniors on the bridging requirements, kept track of registration, purchased supplies, etc. 80. 1 girl planned and operated a Halloween Party / Haunted House with the help of the other girls playing roles in the haunted house. It ran an entire Sat. Open to the community and the admission was a personal care item for a local "living closet". She also planned a lot of games the kids could win prizes and they had a lot of fun. 81. Dance Badge workshop for 2 Junior Troops. 82. An Outdoor Skills day at our local park for Juniors and Brownies. They invited different people from the community to help. The girls earned to tie knots, cook outdoors and build fires . The girls attending earned a fun patch and learned many new skills 83. One wrote children's books, she then spent the whole day at a children's ward at a local hospital she visited and read to the children there. She then donated her books to the Hospital's Pediatric Ward 84. Held picnic and games days for a local group home for mentally impaired adults. The patients were taken to a local park where she led a day of games, eating and singing Because they were unable to stay out too long she completed her project with two separate picnics. She also learned that she'd like to make a career of working with the mentally handicapped 85. I saw several TV reports over the weekend about child car seats and their misuse. So I wondered, "Could this be the focus of a Silver Award project?" Girls to contact the appropriate officials, arrange for a parking lot perhaps with a playground nearby where the little ones are shepherded while their parents have the car seat checked. Cadette families that have little ones are the first to sign up, of course. This is only the first spark of this idea, you understand,of course. Silver Award Project Ideas - Play and Ready, Set, Camp They are doing a program called THE PLAY'S THE THING! it is for brownies and is going to introduce them to different types of play. Each girl has her own responsibility; so they're doing theater, orgami, sport and 19th century crafts that young girls did. Two years ago I had 5 girls and the did Ready - Set - Camp! each girl took a part of camping and introduced it to girls who had never been camping so they would be ready to go on the encampment a few weeks later. Jungle Fever Campout Our Cadette troop is planning a one-night camp session for Junior GS as our Silver Project. The theme is "Jungle Fever" because all of our activities will have something to do with the jungle or rain forest. So far we have planned a guided hike with "planted" items relating to the jungle (the girls will find them and then we'll tell them something about that item and how it fits in the jungle), and a food activity taste testing hot chocolate and making a banana shake. We will make a SWAP (items made and then traded) to give each Junior when they complete each station in our wide game. Wacky Olympics They held a Wacky Olympics day for Junior scouts complete with opening ceremonies, a medal ceremony (gold, silver, and bronze), the "lighting of the torch", and a parade of "nations". =============================================== Subject: RE: GSUSA Wider ops ? and service projects Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 12:59:33 -0500 From: "Sorl, Kylin (CAP, ITS, US)" To: "'aandb@fowler2.u-net.com'" Our troops in my area do a wide variety of service projects. They range from spending time in a Nursing Home ("Old folks home") to community gardens. We have a program called adopt a spot in our community that any person or group can adopt a public space and clean/beautify it. My community itself is big on service. There's the "Stream Team" that cleans up an area stream or creek that troops volunteer with. Other service projects can be within Girl Scouting and will often be an older troop hosting a younger troop or helping out in this manner. Our projects for our Silver and Gold Awards also incorporate service. I don't know if there are any Wider Opportunities dealing with this but I wanted to end the silence... Does this answer any of your questions? - Ky Trainer, Leader, Advisor, Program... ===================================================== Subject: Service Projects Date: Fri, 07 May 1999 15:07:42 -0500 From: Angelia Bone Organization: Institute of Marine Sciences - Gulf Coast Research Laboratory To: aandb@FOWLER2.U-NET.COM Hi, My name is Angelia and I am from the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Listed below are some service projects my brownie troop and service unit participated in last year: At our roundup, the Wildlife Rehabilitation facility came with animals and gave a talk. Each girl brough something from their wish list; i.e. baby food, etc. or donated money so they could buy some supplies. We collected nonperishable food items for the Salvation Army...each girl that brought at least 10 got a patch from the agency. Girls brought food items for a "thanksgiving basket" for 2 needy families. We got their names from the church we meet at (this was part of our giving back to our sponsor). Another local church had a community thanksgiving dinner in our local high school cafeteria. Each girl brought cans or jars of peanuts and candy corn which was used as table treats. For Christmas, we participated in a council parade and donated new toys for needy children as admission to a local movie theater. We also participated in the Salvation Army Stocking stuffer. Each girl in our troop bought various items to stuff into a stocking (yo-yos, crayons, coloring books, jump ropes, cars, bubbles, etc.) for needy children. We also adopted 2 families from the church we meet at (again, as a sponsor thank-you) and provided the children with toys. Each girl drew a child, thereby giving each child 4 new toys. Our council also had a Christmas in the Woods at our local camp. We made bird feeders (pinecones in peanut butter, rolled in birdseed) and hung them in the woods. We also had cookies and cocoa with Santa and his wife, donated a new toy for a needy kid, and donated a present to camp from its wish list. For girl scout week, we participated in a local baby sprinkle. Each girl brings an item for a baby basket (we made 2!) and presented them to the local hospital. The 1st baby girl born each day received a present "for a future girl scout" from troop _______. I have also heard of others who do birthday boxes for needy kids. They take a box, put cake mix, frosting, candles, a toy, paper plates and hats, napkins, and a birthday card and wrap the box in birthday paper. Then it is given to a local food pantry for needy families to help them celebrate for their children. Hope this helps! ============================================================= Subject: service projects Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 17:01:35 EDT From: Buhblz@aol.com To: aandb@fowler2.u-net.com Hi Amanda, A lot of the service projects we do may not apply to you since they are local but here goes: 1. Organize a collection and delivery for a local battered and abuse shelter 2. Collect "birthday boxes" from troops in your service unit and deliver to children's shelters or local food banks(boxes include items such as balloons, candles, plates, napkins, cups, party favors, a small present or gift certificate, noisemakers, confetti, cake mix, canned frosting, etc). 3. Organize a clean up for all the school playgrounds in your area 4. Offer to tutor at local homework help locations 5. Bike safety workshop combined with a bike rodeo 6. Plant flowers, shrubs, trees where needed locally 7. Adopt a family for Christmas and or birthdays (check with churches or outreach agencies near you) 8. Organize a food drive for your local food bank 9. Hold a cat or dog show and combine with information about pets, healty, sterilization, etc. Collect dog or cat food to donate to your local Humane Society. 10. Make "busy kits" for kids in the hospital or for hospital waiting rooms. In a gallon zip lock bag, place some crayons (ask local restaurants for donations) and coloring book pages. Puzzles are good too. 11. Collect and donate school supplies to local shelters 12. Organize a towel and blanket drive for the local animal shelter(s) 13. Make "Baby Sprinkle" baskets to present to first born baby on Juliette Low's birthday (October 31st) or Girl Scout Day (March 12th). Call local hospital to coordinate this. 14. Hold a baby shower for the local child abuse shelter (e-mail me if you'd like details on this one) 15. Collect items to make "care kits" for seniors in assisted living or nursing homes (include items such as lotions, toiletry items, nail clippers, comb, brush, etc) 16. Organize a gently used toy drive for the local pediactric unit. 17. Collect coats to donate to needy kids 18. Make simple stuffed animals or collect used stuffed animals for hospitals, fire departments, ambulance drivers, police, etc. 19. Collect books for a local shelter (build a bookcase for them to go in too) 20. Collect and donate books to the federal prison 21. Have the girls in the troop read books on to tapes and donate the books and tapes to the local pediatirc unit, shelter, or school for the blind 22. Organize a magazine collection drive. Donate to local VA, hospitals, shelter, or libraries (school or public) 23. Make and place Peace Poles in public parks or school grounds, etc. 24. Go Christmas caroling for canned food. Put out flyers in the neighborhood a week ahead of time. 25. Organize a badge/tryit/IPP workshop 26. Hold a craft fair and donate a percentage of the proceeds to local GS facilities 27. Organize a craft fair-set up several tables with different kinds of crafts to teach. 28. Hold a games/olympics day for local troops 29. Host an Astronomy night 30. Hold a camping skills (outdoor skills) work shop with different skills and/or information at stations 31. Host a crime preventions workshop 32. Hold an emergency preparedness event 33. Arrange a story hour at your local library 34. Make, collect, or donate "blankies" to babies/toddlers in need 35. Hold a fitness workshop for all levels 36. Do manicures for women in the nursing homes or assited living centers 37. Make packages to mail to servicemen overseas (contact the Red Cross on how to distribute). Include items such as books, videos, hot chocolate and hot cider packets, microwave popcorn, hard candy, greeting cards that they can use to send home, small games, magazines, etc. 38. Help the Color a Smile organization (Color a Smile, POBox 1516, Morristown, New Jersey 07962 (973) 540-9222 39. Help with local non-profit organizations (e.g. help hand out info for MADD, walk for the diabetes foundation, help the local school with events or projects, etc0 40. Help with local troop organizers. Go with them to troop organization/leader recruitment meetings and share your knowledge and love of scouting Some additional websites you might check into are: http://members.aol.com/GSLdrKay/serviceideas.html http://www.guidezone.skl.com/i_bw_index.html http://wwwgeocities.com/Heartland/Pointe/9385 Have fun with these! If you need more detailed information, just ask! YIS, Karen Norgard Sahuaro GSC Tucson, AZ ================================================ Subject: service activities Date: Fri, 07 May 1999 18:10:13 -0400 From: John & Mary Harrison To: aandb@FOWLER2.U-NET.COM Hi, Amanda, My troop does a couple of different levels of service - little things and then an occasional big thing. So here's a few of what they have done over the past couple of years. 1) Buy a set of new clothes for a child at Christmas. 2) Create cards to send to -- service members overseas -- veterans in the hospital -- senior citizens 3) Decorate placemats and donate a couple of boxes of cookies to the senior citizen home nearby. 4) Clean up the school yard where we meet 5) Help out with recruitment night by manning tables, answering questions, guiding people around. 6) Volunteer at a cross-country race by helping at the concession stand. 7) Participate in the annual bird count. 8) Help at camp promotion night: craft table, leading younger girls in singing, sharing their camping experiences 9) Create a display of girl scout "stuff" for the showcases at school. 10) Have a "wacky olympics" day for younger girls. 11) Held a bridging day for Brownies so they could earn the bridging patch. It also included first aid instruction. 12) Offer knife safety instruction at a camping skills day. 13) Make informational booklets or posters for different topics. Last year three of my girls organized and ran a "bike rodeo". That's an event where bikes are checked for safety, rules of the road and learned and practiced, and riding skills are demonstrated in games. We recycle regularly, but that's not really service because we keep the cash from the aluminum cans. I've got two girls who are planning a 1-km fun run at a local elementary school for the fall. I've got another girl who is thinking about offering a sport camp. These would be for silver awards. Hope this helps. You'll probably get lots of repeats from other people, and this list does extend over 2-3 years. We aren't as service oriented as we should be, I guess - at least not compared to other troops I've heard of. But we're happy. Mary Harrison cadette troop 466 (12-13 years old) Virginia Beach, Virginia USA ================================================== Subject: service projects (looooooooong!) Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 15:41:26 -0700 From: "Jinx McGuire" To: Hi, Amanda, Sure, there are lots of great ideas. When my troop met in a branch library, and I was filling out forms and they asked about safety, I showed them my battered copy of Safety-Wise (I'm sure you must have a similar compilation of safety policies) which they admired. We bought a copy for their shelves. (They returned the favor by putting up a plaque!) We collected night clothes and soft toys for a shelter for women and children, who often run from an abusive home just when they can, and don't bring these things. The shelter sent someone to accept the donations (since their exact location is kept secret) (They returned the favor by telling us how you can tell before he hits you that your date might be into abuse!) Two girls working on their Silver Award (for girls of about grade 7-9) during Desert Storm wanted to do something to help bring peace to the world. It seems idealism comes in big pieces! They held a Peace Corps Evening, with returned Peace Corps Volunteers sharing their experiences (and how to apply) with Cadettes and Seniors (grades 6-12) The RPCV's were all former GS, and 2 were current adults members. The Brownies sang and gave lots of hugs to lonely seniors in a retirement home. It was really special because some of the seniors were immigrants and so were some of the girls; they were lonely for their grandchildren and their grandparents respectively. Girl Scouts in the Puget Sound area help staff the lost kids booth at big regional events such as the folk festival in May and the state and county fairs in the fall- so do other teen service groups. When my Brownies met at a grade school they did some projects for the school where they met. They presented some singing games to the other students, they did lots of playground cleanup, and one year they had an "Adopt the tree" project to make the kids aware of how to care for a lovely pear tree on the playground. When the tree was infested with tent-making caterpillars later, we pruned out the tents and removed them before they could hatch. (I pruned with the 12-foot lopper, and they gathered and bagged the tents.) When camping at our council-owned camps, there were service opportunities offered every time, age-adjusted, and we usually did whatever they needed. One of the Brownie dads was going to Nicaragua on a church-sponsored service project, so we collected and made a whole suitcase full of stuff for him to take: school supplies mostly, plus toothbrushes, and calendars(I remember these best since they took a large effort!) A favorite (but I could never get my girls to do it) is planting flowers in blighted areas, or planting trees, or participating in the city-wide graffiti paint-out. When they went beyond me into Seniors they worked staffing 10-k runs for various charities, and also in neighborhood cleanups. One girl's Gold Award project was to build disabled-accessibility into a unit at one of the council-owned camps. 'Nuff? I missed your first post so I'm not sure what age or how many you're talking about. YiGGGS, Jinx ================================================== Subject: Re: GSUSA Wider ops ? and service projects Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 20:48:30 -0500 From: we3weaves@mindspring.com To: "Amanda" Amanda, I'm really not sure if this is what you are interested in but here goes... We contacted the local Red Cross and they were thrilled that we wanted to do something to help out. They said they had just collected the change from the mall water fountain so during one of our meetings we went there and counted and rolled pennies. There was so much more than we could do but at least we helped. The money was to be used to help fire victims. We didn't even know that's what the money went for but now I make a special effort to throw my penny into the fountain. We also helped sign people in and serve snacks at one of their blood drives. We had a skating party and collected books to donate to the hospital and fixed "Fun Bags" to take also. We fixed Birthday Boxes to give to the needy. Each girl bought a gift to give to a "Angel" at Christmas. I can't think of more right now. Hope that helped a little but like I said not sure if it was the kind of help you had wanted. Beck Weaver Jr. Leader N. Alabama we3weaves@mindspring.com ===================================================== Subject: Re: GSUSA Wider ops ? and service projects Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 22:06:53 -0400 From: Andrew w Shegoski To: aandb@fowler2.u-net.com service projects: doing something to benefit someone/place/thing else. the older girls have a major project as part of their leadership/silver/gold award requirements. my girls (now 15) have: planned a dinner for the service unit, run brownie try-it nights, and started a brownie troop from a waiting list of girls. they planned the meetings, made initial contact with the moms, helped the little ones do small community service projects (collect books/toys for battered women's shelter, collect aluminum can tabs for ronald mcdonald house, cut and collect manufacturers coupons to send to army personnel overseas to use at their bases' stores, etc.) hope this helps... fern shegoski, new jersey ================================================ Subject: Re: GSUSA Wider ops ? and service projects Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 23:36:39 EDT From: LilScout1@aol.com To: aandb@fowler2.u-net.com Hi Amanda, Let's see...service projects: 1. Doing yard work for the elderly. 2. Filling shoe boxes with soap, shampoo, shave cream & razor, wash cloth, nonperishable food & water, etc., and handing them out to the homeless men and women on our street corners. 3. Filling a shoe box with a cake mix, icing, candles, napkins, plates, hats, party favors, and a gift for a Birthday Party in a box for our migrant families. 4. Making baby quilts for the visiting nurse (also an ex-Girl Scout leader) to hand out to needy teen moms she visits. 5. Painting and refurbishing an old building so it is serviceable and can be used by civic groups. 6. Designing and planting a butterfly garden at GS camp or in an area where others can enjoy the flowers and butterflies. 7. Hold a pet wash for the elderly who may not be able to get on their knees and bathe their pet. 8. Marking a trail with wooden signs to identify plants and writing up a booklet for a self guided walk at your local GS camp or in your town. Hope this helps! Lilly =============================================== Subject: RE: Service projects/ wider ops THANK YOU Date: Sun, 9 May 1999 08:44:44 -0700 From: broyer To: Amanda Amanda, I didn't see your original post, but I have a compilation of Silver and Gold Award Project on my website at http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/5940 Good luck to you, and I hope this helps Brenda R. So. California ============================== Subject: Service Projects Date: Sun, 9 May 1999 17:22:46 EDT From: MDacheff@aol.com To: aandb@fowler2.u-net.com I don't know if this is what you are looking for, but the girls in my troop have just begun a project to benefit a local historical site. The site is a small chapel that is on the list of historic sites. Each weekend a different girl goes with an adult to the chapel and does lawn mowing and dusting inside the chapel. A project that they did last year was to collect new stuffed animals to give to the local police dept. The officers keep some in the trunk of their cars and give them to children that they come in contact with. ============================================ Subject: RE: GSUSA Wider ops ? and service projects Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 07:25:16 -0400 From: "Blakeney, Jennie L., Ms., RS-W" To: "'aandb@fowler2.u-net.com'" Hi, I have a Junior/Cadette troop and the girls are 11, 12 and 13 years old. We have done (or have planned for the rest of this year) the following service activities: 1. Assisted a brownie troop (6, 7, and 8) year olds with making jewelry and earning their Bridge to Juniors patch. 2. Doing a clean-up along a street near a housing construction site. A new development is going in and there are lots of bottles and cans from the construction crews and such that are working there. 3. Planting a butterfly garden at a local church. 4. Assisting a Cadette Troop (12, 13, and 14 year olds) with an outdoor skills day for younger girls. Our girls helped the older girls teach the skills to the younger ones. Our girls were really in the middle of the age range for the day. Hope this helps you. Jennie Blakeney Leader, Junior/Cadette Troop 3111 Stafford, VA ========================================= Subject: Re: Service compilation Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 14:49:28 EDT From: D94W@aol.com To: aandb@fowler2.u-net.com Hi: Here is a service project you can add if you haven't already received this idea: Contact local organizations that serve families in need and have troops sponsor the family year round (or for a certain celebration or time of year). In the fall our troops collect school supplies, including pens, pencils, markers, crayons, paper, pocket dictionaries, binders, cases, backpacks etc. Winter (around the holiday season) we purchase new clothes (outer and inner), toys, craft supplies etc. Spring: we purchase personal care items, such as shampoo, conditioner, baby care products, combs, brushes, hair accessories, shaving products, etc. Early summer we purchase summer clothes, toys, craft supplies etc. Some troops sponsor the same family for years, others sponsor different families and/or through different social agencies. We stress that the items that are donated should be of the same quality that the donor's family would be proud to own. This is just one idea, but I'm sure you are getting lots more. YIGGGS, Susan Haustein ====================================== ubject: USA Service Projects Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 20:20:58 EDT From: Wirral5@aol.com To: aandb@fowler2.u-net.com Amanda, My Cadettes and Seniors (age range 11 to 18) have done these service projects this year: making quilts for premature babies at a local hospital; wearing animal costumes and greeting children at our local zoo's Christmas event (Zooltide); singing carols at a nursing home; making birdhouses out of gourds and giving them to an area nature center; making Valentines Day cards and sending them to armed forces veterans in hospitals; staffing an educational entertainment table at a local college Math Fair (we had tangrams and patterns for them); and next week, helping at a local annual historical event attended by many many many area fourth-graders -- it's called Navarre Cabin Days, in honor of the first anglo resident of South Bend, and volunteers dress up and re-enact what life was like here in 1835 (which was pretty damned primitive -- nothing like the UK at that time). Are you trying to get inspiration for ideas for Guides in your area? Fern Hamlin Singing Sands Council South Bend, Indiana ======================================================= Subject: service projects Date: Fri, 07 May 1999 08:41:46 -0500 From: "Margaret Townsend" Organization: KGS To:Amanda Fowler So, who posted the info about Birthday Boxes... Linda? Terri? Jean? Marlene? :-) Here in Cumberland Valley we are having a council wider op/hugeevent/party of the century/whatever :-) in June. As part of thiscelebration, troops are encouraged to decorate a large shoebox(like a boot box) by covering it in birthday paper and filling itwith "birthday party" items, i.e. - a cake mix, frosting, candles, paper plates, napkins, party favors. etc. These boxes will than be distributed through various food banks. The underlying premise is that many children whose families receiveassistance from the food bank may never have a birthday cake and/or"party type" items on their birthday. This is one way to try and remedy that situation. I think it's wonderful, and I'm extremely grateful to those who first came up with the idea... Subject: Another Service Project idea Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 14:39:44 EDT From: Tia 120963 Hi Ladies and Gents, I haven't been around much due to my parents health problems, but now thateverything is back to normal, for now, I just thought I'd send you this idea, someone else may have sent it already, I'm WAY behind in my email!! Go to this site http://www.cardsforkids.com they are looking for homemade cards to send to terminally ill kids, I just printed out two dozen from my computer, but you can have the girls make them with rubber stamps, stickers etc. They are also looking for envelopes, but if you can't make them, they will take just the cards, as long as they are a certain size, check out the web site for details.... Ethel B. Plymouth Bay Subject: Service project Date: Mon, 7 Dec 1998 18:46:37 -0500 From: Carol McLane One of the service projects my Junior troop did was to take some usedchildren's books and read them onto tape. Then we presented the books to a pre-school packaged together. The package each had a book and tape in a plastic bag. The girls had a lot of fun with this as they had to read the book until they could do it with no mistakes, they added sound effects and audio tones indicating when to change pages. Carol McLane Portland, Michigan Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1998 10:48:34 +1000 From: Marshall & Ruth Subject: Community Ideas MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Everyone, Am putting stuff from boxes into books again today and came across these! They are bits'n'piece from a few cub programs l did years ago! Would have been part of their boomerang test work!!! A great way for the girls to get to know their community better. Hope they are of help to someone! PUZZLE PICTURES Make a collection of photographs of places of interest in your district. Ask the girls to identify the pictures. Take the same photos at odd angles. Ask the girl to either recognise and name or match the odd photos to the normal photos. DESCRIPTIONS Make a tape recording of the girls descriptions to directions to the places named by yourself(?), play back to the Girls and see if they are clear enough to help a stranger to the district find their way. NIGHT AND DAY VISIT Visit places of interest during the day and then visit the same places at night so that the Girls may see how different the places appear! LOCAL PAPER ACTORS Give each patrol a copy of your local paper, they are to choose a news item and prepare and present a short play about that item. DESTINATION DARTS Make up a large dart board, use place names instead of numbers. One girls from each patrol at a time throws the dart. Wherever it lands the Patrol is to explain how to get there. Other Patrols to look for mistakes in their description. COMMUNITY CARDS Make a set of card for each Patrol. Print the following on the card. 1. Police Station 2. address 3. Library 4 address 5. Doctor 6. address 7. Post Office 8. address 9. School 10. address 11. Hospital 12. address etc, etc, Shuffle all the cards together and give each person 2 cards. The patrol work together to get a complete set. Girls may ask each other for a particular card they are looking for, but must give one of their cards in exchange. Have a list of places and addresses for the girls to check against. Sunshine, Ruth Mott Caramut, Vic, Australia. westgreys@iconnect.net.au Service Projects Project: Flower Planting Your name & troop number: Liz - Brownie Troop 1546 Your council: Suffolk County GSC, NY Troop Level/Age Level: All Materials needed: Gloves and garden tools How much time is involved?: About 1 hour per planting session Project Outline (please include timeline): Twice a year (fall and spring) our SU arranges for donations of flowers grown by our towns ecology center to be planted in barrels or planter boxes (built by older GS) that line the major roads in our communities. During the summer we try to have the troops/girls stop and weed and water these so the boxes remain looking nice. Who is involved (do you do this in cooperation with a school group or senior center, etc): Coordination with the Town's Ecology center Is this done for another organization (ie. hospitals, March of Dimes, Cancer Society, Senior Center)?: No Have you done this project before, or will this be your first year?: This has been an annual event for a number of years If you have done this in the past, do you have any ideas or suggestions that could help someone else plan the event?: Try to pick flowers that will do well in the planter locations - we don't usually have too much say in this because they are donated - this year being very hot and dry in New York most of the flowers are showing signs of stress even though we've tried to water on a weekly basis. Project: Adopt A Family Your name & troop number: Liz - Brownie Troop 1546 Your council: Suffolk County GSC, NY Troop Level/Age Level: All Materials needed: None How much time is involved?: At the troop level, minimal - at the SU level I would estimate about 4-5 hours. Project Outline (please include timeline): Somewhere around October, the SU approaches the local community help organizations (churches/outreach agencies) and asked for a few families that our troops can "adopt" for the holidays. We get a list of family members and their sizes and usually a wish list of sorts. I think it depends on the size of the troop but from what I have seen - each troop has been assigned a family to purchase items for. These are then wrapped and turned in to the SU and given to the "agency" for distribution. This past year we have also asked that leaders inform us of any troop members families that might fit this category and we've adopted them also. We also collect $5 per troop and purchase a gift certificate at a local food store so that the families can pick out their own menu for the holiday. Another bonus is we hold a Holiday party for the girls in the SU and the Christmas tree is decorated by ornaments made by the girls - this is also delivered to one of the families. Who is involved (do you do this in cooperation with a school group or senior center, etc): Coordination with outreach centers/churches Is this done for another organization (ie. hospitals, March of Dimes, Cancer Society, Senior Center)?: No Have you done this project before, or will this be your first year?: This has been an annual event for a number of years If you have done this in the past, do you have any ideas or suggestions that could help someone else plan the event?: I believe that this year we are going to try something a little different because of comments that have been made about this being aimed at the "Christian" faith. Our intent is not to exclude or overlook anyone but we may have to rethink this effort so that all faiths and their religious customs are equally met. Project: Boxes for Bosnia Your name & troop number: Liz - Brownie Troop 1546 Your council: Suffolk County GSC, NY Troop Level/Age Level: All Materials needed: Large boxes How much time is involved?: At the troop level it is minimal - at the SU leave I would estimate about 3 hours. Project Outline (please include timeline): I'm not exactly sure where this came from - but we collected items that soldiers stationed overseas might not have access to like: playing cards, stationary/pens, fragranced soaps/colognes, feminine hygiene products, razors/ shave cream, toilet paper, dominoes, toothbrushes/toothpaste, candy/cookies/ snacks. We also had each troop make up greeting cards. The troops turned in all the items to the SU and we had a team that divided the items up into Male/Female boxes and made sure that all the items where included in each box. We arranged for the boxes to be shipped overseas through a local Army/Navy surplus store. So all we had to do was bring them the boxes of goodies. Who is involved (do you do this in cooperation with a school group or senior center, etc): Military organizations Is this done for another organization (ie. hospitals, March of Dimes, Cancer Society, Senior Center)?: No Have you done this project before, or will this be your first year?: We did this 2 years ago Project: Valentines for Disabled Citizens (children) Your name & troop number: Monica Schmidt, Brownie Troop 431 (Optional - city & state) Knoxville, TN Your council: Tanasi Girl Scout Council Troop Level/Age Level: Brownies, 2nd & 3rd graders Materials needed: Construction paper, paints, sponges cut in shapes, glue, photographs of girls, markers, pens, pencils How much time is involved?: Took 30-45 minutes to make the cards. Visit to the group home, about 1 hour. Project Outline (please include timeline): A troop parent worked with disabled citizens (adults & children) in group home situations. She began teaching the Disability Awareness patch program (from Tanasi GSC) to the Brownies in January. These activities took 2-3 hours in various meetings to complete. Then we worked on the Colors & Shapes try-it, and made Valentine cards using paints and sponges as part of this try-it. Each card had a photo of a girl from our troop on the front, and was signed on the inside. These photos helped the disabled persons to understand who the card was from. [This was a lesson learned from our expert!] On Valentine's Day we took a field trip to the group home for disabled children, and delivered the Valentine's cards to the residents there. Special permission from the group home was required to visit there, and we were not allowed to take photographs of the residents or the inside of the home. Who is involved (do you do this in cooperation with a school group or senior center, etc): Worked with a local group home for disabled citizens. Is this done for another organization - for whom (ie. hospitals, March of Dimes, Cancer Society, Senior Center)?: Disabled Home Have you done this project before, or will this be your first year?: Was our first year to do this project. If you have done this in the past, do you have any ideas or suggestions that could help someone else plan the event?: Remember to contact the group home early, several weeks ahead of time, so that you can schedule your visit and get approvals in advance. Ask about special rules which much be followed in donating cards (or other items) for the residents there, or in visiting there. Project: Year-long Food Drive Your name & troop number: Judi/Debbie Augustine (leaders) Troops: #828, #574,#601 (Optional - city & state) Edison,New Jersey 08817-2039 Materials needed: 2 cans food per month per girl (1 hr. service time) Age Level: All How much time is involved?: About 2-3 hours during the year Is this done for another organization - for whom (ie. hospitals, March of Dimes, Cancer Society, Senior Center)?: Middlesex Family Services Have you done this project before, or will this be your first year?: Coming year will be our 5th year Project: Animal Shelter Your name & troop number: Judi/Debbie Augustine (leaders) Troops: #828, #574,#601 (Optional - city & state) Edison,New Jersey 08817-2039 Materials needed: Make a container, keep at home & collect change all year. Turn in at end of year & buy leashes, collars & food for the animal shelter. How much time is involved?: About 1 hour making the container; Service time - 2 hours (This was 1st year.) 12 girls collected $143.00 for shelter--#574. This year all 3 troops are doing it. Is this done for another organization - for whom (ie. hospitals, March of Dimes, Cancer Society, Senior Center)?: Edison Animal Shelter Have you done this project before, or will this be your first year?: Coming year will be our 3rd. Project: Adopt-a-Family at Christmas Your name & troop number: Judi/Debbie Augustine (leaders) Troops: #828, #574,#601 (Optional - city & state) Edison,New Jersey 08817-2039 How much time is involved?: About 2-3 hours ----shopping & wrapping (2 hours service time) Project Outline We are given a family (mom or grandmother & 2-3 kids). Each girl picks a card with the name of one of the family members on it. They then go to buy a present ($10.00 limit). With 32 girls & 2 leaders each kid gets about 10 gifts & some for the mom or Gram too. How much time is involved?: About 2-3 hours ----shopping & wrapping Is this done for another organization - for whom (ie. hospitals, March of Dimes, Cancer Society, Senior Center)?: Middlesex Family Services Have you done this project before, or will this be your first year?: Coming year will be our 5th year Project: Senior's Home Your name & troop number: Judi/Debbie Augustine (leaders) Troops: #828, #574,#601 (Optional - city & state) Edison,New Jersey 08817-2039 Troop Level/Age Level: 1 Brownie troop (1st & 2nd grade), 1 Brownie troop (bridged to Juniors in June) 1 Junior troop (4th & 5th grade) Materials needed: It depends on what they are making for the decorations---we made foam ghosts, flower place mats, snowmen from styrofoam, tissue flowers, Christmas ornaments, Valentine candy dishes, candle decorations, etc. How much time is involved?: Works out to about 10 service hours for the year. Project Outline We make monthly decorations for the home, sing & visit at Christmas, plant flowers in spring. Have you done this project before, or will this be your first year?: Coming year will be our 4th year Who is involved (do you do this in cooperation with a school group or senior center, etc): We do these projects among the 3 troops Is this done for another organization - for whom (ie. hospitals, March of Dimes, Cancer Society, Senior Center)?: Cedar Oaks Senior's Home Project: Miscellaneous Activities Your name & troop number: Judi/Debbie Augustine (leaders) Troops: #828, #574,#601 (Optional - city & state) Edison,New Jersey 08817-2039 We also have done Wish Tree Ornaments (girls made over 200---#828 made most of these), decorated the Library tree, mail to servicemen, Green Hand Project, made bookmarks for school library, collected tabs for a troop in MA, collected aluminum cans, Goody bags, Project Linus (#828). They are very into doing service. Troop #601 was new this past year-----so they have only done the 4 that were listed Project: Environmental Restoration (i.e. Roadside clean-up) Your name & troop number: Dawn MacNeill, 1st Windsor Forks Brownies, Nova Scotia Your Council: Hants Area Troop Level/Age Level: Brownies - age 7-9yrs, this can be used for any age level though Materials needed: Individual shopping bags (several for each person) Garbage bags, recycling bags, & ties, Gloves (the above may be available from a local recycling depot, or donated by members) a section of road/woodland/other outdoor area a group of willing girls & of course those leaders How much time is involved?: We did the clean-up in one meeting (1.5hrs) Project Outline (please include timeline): Pick an appropriate time of year to have a clean up and choose an area (this could be part of any regular planning meeting for the year). Let the parents know where and when, getting permission slips in before that night. Discuss with the girls the week before about what's going to happen, where you are going, why we should be doing this, what should they where, what they should & shouldn't pick up, etc. The actual event only takes as long as you make it. It could be an afternoon, an hour,... This all depends on the area you pick, the number of people, the rate at which they move, etc. Who is involved (do you do this in cooperation with a school group or senior center, etc): We usually do this ourselves. In some areas there are organizations, such as Clean Nova Scotia, which may supply bags, brightly colored vests (i.e. Hunter's Orange), etc. Is this done for another organization - for whom (ie. hospitals, March of Dimes, Cancer Society, Senior Center)?: We all benefit from cleaning up our surroundings Have you done this project before, or will this be your first year?: We have done it the last couple of years, usually in conjunction with Earth Day. This project can also be done with other groups, I've done it with both Sunday Schools & a Duke of Edinburgh's Award Group. If you have done this in the past, do you have any ideas or suggestions that could help someone else plan the event?: Arrange to have an adult with each group of girls. Also, wear bright colored clothing & something you don't mind getting dirty. Give each girl there own shopping bag to fill, that way they see progress faster, they can fill more than one -putting them in larger bags, it's also a size that they can handle. Those garbage bags get heavy awful quick, so a good idea is to have something to put them in when they are full (i.e. a wagon, the trunk of a car, etc.) One other thing, depending on where you do this, you may find roadkill in the ditches or other dead (or alive) animals. One year there was a decomposing skunk in the ditch, other year some one went to drain out the water in a chip bag & out fell a dead mouse, last year a girl lifted up something & underneath was a snake. A nice thing for the workers at the end is to have a cool drink waiting. Also, gather everyone around to see how much garbage was there. Get a Group Picture (with the full garbage bags & all the workers), put it in the paper! This makes for great PR and the girls (parents, grandparents, etc.) love seeing their picture published. It also lets others know what you are doing, and helps make people aware of the situation. Project: Donation of school supplies to our local S.A.F.E. (battered women's shelter) Your name & troop number: Kristy McGuire, Troop 72 (Optional - city & state) Tupelo, MS, USA Your council: Prairie GSC Troop Level/Age Level: Brownies and Juniors 4th - 6th grades Materials needed: I have asked the parents to pick up extra supplies as they buy for the girls. How much time is involved?: We will gather the supplies at meetings over the next few weeks and contact the home and make a delivery as a troop. Project Timeline: First of August through September Who is involved (do you do this in cooperation with a school group or senior center, etc): Families of the troop members Have you done this project before, or will this be your first year? First year. PROJECT: Towel and Blanket Drive for an animal shelter (we donated to The Animal Rescue League of Boston) Your name & troop number: Janey Freedman, Leader Jr. Troop 3011 Your council: Patriots Trail Girl Scout Council Troop Level: Second year Juniors--age 10. There was a total of eight girls in the troop--one patrol/one leader. Project Outline Timeline is five weeks--AFTER PERMISSION TO DO DRIVE WAS OBTAINED FROM SCHOOL PRINCIPAL Week One: The girls organized who would make posters, decorate collection boxes, make flyer, make 'thank you' gifts, and make letters for all school teachers. Also make a sheet to keep track of who made donations what in each class (needed for purpose of giving 'thank you gift' to all who donated at end of drive). Week Two: All of the above items made: posters hung on Friday of week, as was flyer given to school newspaper for insertion in following Monday's paper, letters and tally sheets distributed to teachers. Week Three: Collection boxes were placed in halls before school began on Monday, an announcement was made on the school PA system about the drive (by Tuesday items were being brought in and put in collection boxes). Leader cleaned out the boxes daily, so that items were not spilling over into hallways, she took them to her home and weighed them. Week Four: Collection slows down, so daily a family pet, which was adopted from an animal shelter, was brought into school and introduced by troop members to different classes (each day a different grade was covered), the purpose of the drive again restated, this stimulates donations again. At end of week PA announcement made by troop member announcing the drive is over, and thanking all who donated, and total poundage collected announced. The sheets teachers have been keeping donations on in their class are collected by troop member. Week Five: Items are folded neatly and put into plastic bags--a total of 150 pounds of towels and blankets had been donated. "Thank you gifts" (old campaign-like buttons sprayed black and animal stickers placed on them) were bagged by class, and number who donated to drive, and given back to teachers a to distribute (grab- bag style--no choice of button, just pick from the number given to the teacher). Animal shelter contacted and day for troop to deliver the bags is set up (along with a tour of the facilities). Who is involved?: The school where the troop meets. Drive could not have taken place if the school principal did not support it 100%. She even mentioned the drive in her morning message during the two weeks it was being conducted urging children to bring in donations. She also suggested that a pet be brought in to show the students what kind of pets can be adopted at animal shelters How much time was involved: The troop spent two meetings preparing for the drive (delineating tasks, and making needed items), they also had a field trip to the animal shelter during a third meeting time. Each girl in the troop was given permission to miss morning meeting time one morning to show the family pet around the school with the girl whose pet it was. The leader supplied the four collection boxes (which were decorated by the troop members responsible for this). The leader also collected the donations daily when she picked her daughter up from school, and brought the family pet into school daily for a week when she dropped her daughter off at school. Is this done for another organization?: Yes, an animal shelter of your choice. In our case, we delivered the donated items to the Animal Rescue League Have you ever done this before, or is this your first year?: We actually did this in April of 1998 Any Helpful Suggestions?: We were fortunate to belong to a recycling co-operative, where we were able to get "First Night Boston 1995 " button pins for free. Our only expense was the stickers, and I purchased Mrs. Grossman cat and dog stickers, which are fairly expensive in quantity-my advice, look for them on sale at places like AC Moore. ALSO, have one of the troop members ask the school principal about having this type of drive early on in the school year, the principal's cooperation is imperative if this to work in a school setting. It could work in another setting just as well, such as a church...if you have any questions, please feel free to write me at: thefreedmans@juno.com Project: Donated money to three charities Your name & troop number: Betty Verstegen, Junior Troop 159 (Optional - city & state) Sunnyvale CA Your council: Girl Scouts of Santa Clara County Troop Level/Age Level: 3rd year Brownies and up Project Outline: Collected aluminum cans for six months to earn about $150. We proposed three alternative donations to the girls and they couldn't decide. We donated to all three charities: 1) $100 went to the local food bank. We contacted the food bank about and found that they needed prepackaged, one-serving meals to bag for the homeless. We purchased the type of food they requested and spent an hour at the food bank packing bags. 2) $35 went to purchase an acre of rainforest. 3) $20 went to purchase a flock of chickens for a poor family in Pakistan. This was a wonderful learning experience for the girls!!! Project: Daisy Low Baby Baskets Your name & troop number: Kathi Reed Troop 356 City/State: Jonesboro, Arkansas Your council: Crowley's Ridge Girl Scout Council Troop Level/Age Level: Any level can put together the baskets. Materials needed: Items for babies, basket, we also sent a copy of Juliette Gordon Lowe's story, as well as several other Girl Scout items... "Future Girl Scout" t-shirt. Project Outline (please include timeline): We took several of our meetings to gather goodies for babies to put in our baskets. On October 30 (late in the day) I called the hospitals to see if they had anyone that might deliver at midnight or later. I did have to call the hospitals several times on the 31st before there was a lucky baby! I took my daughter (they let children in) to deliver the baskets. I thought the whole troop might be too much. Who is involved (do you do this in cooperation with a school group or senior center, etc): We contacted the two hospitals in our town and gave a basket to each of the first girls born on October 31st. How much time is involved?: Several meetings to gather the goodie Have you done this project before, or will this be your first year?: We did this project last year. The parents were delighted. If you have done this in the past, do you have any ideas or suggestions that could help someone else plan the event?: Make sure to get the new parents address to keep in contact. Project: Sorting food from the Postal Carriers Union Food Drive Your name & troop number: Jennie Dalesandro, Junior Troop #966 (Optional - city & state): Des Plaines, IL Your council: Illinois Crossroads Council Troop Level/Age Level: Brownie and up Materials needed: none Project Outline (please include timeline): 4 hours of sorting canned goods Who is involved (do you do this in cooperation with a school group or senior center, etc): We helped the postal carriers and the local food pantry volunteers How much time is involved?: about 4 hours Is this done for another organization - for whom (ie. hospitals, March of Dimes, Cancer Society, Senior Center)?: Local food pantry Have you done this project before, or will this be your first year?: We did this 2 years now. The National Letter Carrier's Union does this the first or second Saturday in May. It's a national thing, depending if the local union decides to participate. If you have done this in the past, do you have any ideas or suggestions that could help someone else plan the event?: Get in touch with your local post office to see if they are going to participate. If so, find out what they are going to do with the food collected. If they are going to give to a local pantry, ask for a name to contact. Call that person and ask if you can help them to sort out the food. SIDE NOTE: This year there was about 10 tons of food! The pantry volunteers are all retired folks, and were SO appreciative to us for doing the running around and such. They packed the food into banana boxes of which our Service Unit assisted in collecting the boxes from local grocers. This box part needs to be handled better next year, but it's a rewarding project, and they are hoping we'll be back again next year to help again. Last year there was about 6 or 8 tons, so the drive is growing. More community volunteers are also helping! We had a nice piece written up in the local paper, which helped out the advertising of Scouts! Project: Quilts for children going through severe therapies at St. Jude's Children's Hospital Your name & troop number: Kristy Troop Leader, Troop #72 (Optional - city & state) Tupelo, MS, USA Your council: Prairie GSC Troop Level/Age Level: Brownies and Juniors 4th - 6th grades Project Outline (please include timeline): We are working at present and it will probably be an ongoing event for awhile. We are making 45" x 60" quilt tops and recruiting locals from the community for their quilting experience to help with the quilts. We plan on taking a number in February for Thinking Day. We will continue on after that. We have received all of the fabric we need from Hancock Fabrics (I work at the distribution warehouse), we intend to ask others to donate batting as we need it. This project involves simple things as iron-on applique to pieced blocks. The girls are excited and are learning to sew (as it seems their mothers don't). Who is involved (do you do this in cooperation with a school group or senior center, etc): Senior center, quilting group and individuals. How much time is involved?: We take a portion of our meeting to do the things needed: coloring a picture for transferring, piecing a block or fusing and cutting. Is this done for another organization - for whom (ie. hospitals, March of Dimes, Cancer Society, Senior Center)?: St. Jude's Children's Hospital Have you done this project before, or will this be your first year? First year. Project: Baby Shower for the Resource Center for Women Your name & troop number: Sheryl Battin Junior Troop #1 Your council: Heart of Florida GSC Troop Level/Age Level: Juniors Materials needed: Odds & ends for decorations, dolls, invitations. Ingredients for cookies, mints & punch. How much time is involved?: About 6 hours of planning and researching and 2 hours for the party itself. Project Outline (please include timeline): After the girls decided to do this. Meeting #1. Had a woman come talk to us about the center and why they would need baby things. She had large cardboard dolls dressed in real baby clothes. These were named and each came with a story of the abuse or need this child had experienced. Meeting #2. Planned the shower and made invitations for all troops in the service unit. Planned games. Meeting #3. Made own dolls to set up at the shower. These were about 12 inches tall and dressed from a box of fabric scrapes, bits of lace and ribbon. The girls decided to bring double the dues the next meeting and add a cash donation to the gifts. There were 25 girls in the troop. Meeting #4. Made cookies and mints which was the menu the girls decided on. Saturday was the day of the shower. Girls came early to decorate. No one else came but we had a great time playing the games and unwrapping the presents. All the girls had brought presents and some other troops had sent some. A college donated 3 cases of personal care packets they give out rush week. Who is involved (do you do this in cooperation with a school group or senior center, etc): We did it with and for the Resource Center for Women. Have you done this project before, or will this be your first year?: We did this last school year. Many of the girls want to do it again. Project: Evaluating the girl scout camp for accessibility Your name & troop number: Sheryl Battin Service unit event for Cadettes and bridging Juniors. (Optional - city & state) Winter Haven, Florida Your council: Heart of Florida GSC Troop Level/Age Level: Cadettes and bridging Juniors. Materials needed: Wheel chair, Crutches, walker, & a clip board with the check off list & pencil/pen. How much time is involved?: It is hard to say as other activities were done at the camp while hiking. Project Outline (please include timeline): Before camp obtain a wheel chair, crutches and a walker. Make up a list of things you think would be good to check when checking out a site. We spent a whole day hiking the camp and testing it for accessibility. We were doing other activities along the way such as compass work. There was always a girl in the wheel chair being pushed by another girl. The paths were included in this. All cabins, platform tents, bathrooms, and other buildings were accessed. The girls even thought to check if they could reach the pay phone while sitting in the wheel chair. We spent about an hour that evening discussing what the girls thought about the camp and what they would recommend. At the next meeting of each troop, recommendations were finalized to present to council. Have you done this project before, or will this be your first year?: As far as our camp goes, this would be a one time thing but could perhaps be done for other camps. If you have done this in the past, do you have any ideas or suggestions that could help someone else plan the event?: Let the girls run with this once they get into it. It is amazing what they will come up with and what they will think to check. It turned out a lot more fun than I would have thought. Project: 3 Projects Your name & troop number: Penny Krogstrand, Nyoda Girl Scout Council, Brownie Troop #193 (Optional - city & state) Aberdeen, South Dakota 1) Aberdeen Area Humane Society: The last two years we have used troop money to buy a number of things from a list of supplies they have given us: food, pet toys, dog chews, paper towels. The girls have also donated items they collect, such as newspapers, brown paper bags, and also if they bought anything from the requested list. We delivered the items and toured the building in one visit each year. This visit lasts about an hour and the girls usually get to play with some of the animals. As the girls become older, I hope to expand on this, possibly scheduling one Saturday or Sunday or meeting night per month for us to go out and walk the dogs or groom the animals, or clean or whatever needs to be done there. 2) School Book Fair Assistance I am book fair chairperson for my daughter's school's PTA. The book company sends large sheets of stickers which can be given away at the book fair but need to be cut apart. I just bring these sheets to a meeting and have the girls cut them apart for me. It takes about 15 to 20 minutes and is done twice a year. I just have them start cutting as they arrive at the meeting and they are usually done by the time we are ready to start the meeting. 3) Meals on Wheels Project In conjunction with our service unit's Christmas Caroling Party, one of the Junior Troops arranges a service project. This year they made napkin holders as tray favors for Meals on Wheels and for some of the nursing homes. The Junior Troop had cut out the pieces ahead of time, so all we had to do was assemble them. They were cut out of red and green felt and when assembled, they looked like flowers. There was a loop underneath the flower where a paper napkin was inserted. It is hard for me to give a time estimate on this one. To do one, from start to finish would probably take about 10 minutes. Everyone who attended the party worked on assembling these, but to do the cutting you would have to be Juniors or higher. Project: Visits to Nursing Home Your name & troop number: Malvina Your council: Great Trail/OH Materials Needed: Basic craft materials--crepe paper, color crayons, markers Troop Level: 1st year Jr. troop Project Outline: Our service project this past year which won 4th place in Colgate's Youth for America, we visited a nursing home every other week for 1.5 hr. and had our meeting there (we also had a regular meeting on the other every other week). We started in September through May. Project: Various Ideas Your name & troop number: Tami Katzer, Junior Troop 499 "the ladybugs" Your council: Great Trail/OH I have started to compile a list towards the beginning of the summer and I found this on Becky Bozarts page for the Service in Bloom Patch. Ideas * Visit a care center, sing several songs...share what else you did (craft, game, story, whatever) with your seniors to build an idea list for future visits. * At a senior center, present the residents with "care kits." Lotions, toiletry items. * The same care kits could be donated to homeless shelters or the Red Cross. Check with each agency to determine specific needs. If each girl collects one item per week you can have quite a quantity without significant budget impact. You might also get donations of the things. * Pick up litter in a public park, have some sort of thing that raises public awareness while you are doing it. * Food drive for poor. * Toys to a hospital for children. * Collecting school supplies for children in need. * A coat drive in colder climates. There will still be plenty of winter left. * Participate in something like "Project Dear Abby" which writes to servicemen/women stationed overseas. Those members who do not have military overseas, can adopt a base nearby. Or, everyone could adopt a VA Hospital. * Hospitals (fire department, ambulance drivers, police, etc.) never seem to have enough stuffed animals for a child who is hurt, in a difficult situation or whatever. One troop made "bears" from a very simple pattern using leftover fabric, fabric paint and ribbon around the neck. They were stuffed with fiber fill, but old hose could be used. "Boo Boo Bunnies" wouldn't be easier, but just as effective and easier to store or carry for a small child's use when needed. * Collect children's books and toys for a local Children's hospital/pediatric ward/shelter. Girls could also read the books on tape and then donate the set. * Put together a fun story time for young girls, and tape it. The kids' comments, along with the reading of the stories, would be a comfort to a hospitalized child. * Have troops collect and/or make items for a children's ward in a hospital. Plan a special little "celebration" with them when they deliver the items. Troops could collect toys or make picture books in their troops from magazine cutouts. The celebration could involve troops making cards for the children, bring in punch, and singing some GS songs to the children. Depending on the area where the troops are located, troops could aim for a major hospital where terminally ill children go. * Collect new or slightly used books to donate to different places (VA hospitals, Urban Ministry Centers, Homeless Centers, etc.). This is a project that can be done anywhere, and by all levels. * Many areas have shelters for abused or battered women and their children. A great many of these women have to leave their homes in a hurry. They are not able to gather toys, clothing, and other essential items. Collect these items as well as diapers and other baby needs, toys, clothing, toiletries, books, and other items these families in crises may need and donate them to the shelters. * SPCA - Collect pet food to donate to the SPCA --sort of a food hamper for homeless pets.(CA) * Meals-on-Wheels -Make tray favors for Meals-on-Wheels or senior centers. * Make and place PEACE POLES in public parks or school grounds etc. Girl Scouts and Girl Guides spread PEACE around the world. * A literacy project would be appropriate. Picture books could be sent overseas to areas which don't speak English, girls in those areas could create libraries with the books. Some girls might try writing stories in their language to go with books. Troops without funds to ship overseas, or lots of English books could create libraries in homeless shelters, local schools, etc. Education is one of the best ways of helping girls around the world, according to the UN. * Since GG&GSs took off like wild fire because of the outdoor aspects, how about some type of project that deals with the out-of-doors. Camp re-hab, trail building, awareness activities of outdoor opportunities, etc., leaving the project broad enough to fit all of the different situations in each different area (city, town, cold, warm, etc). * Here are some specific ideas others are using: SARA CRAWLEY * Last night at our Service Unit meeting we decided that as a Service Unit we would do projects for folks in the hospital for the Service is Blooming project. We have two hospitals in the area: a regional one and one for Vets. * I think some troops might visit the hospitals, some have talked about making activity packs for kids or reading books on tape for kids. * There are still troops looking for ideas so I would love to hear other hospital-related projects that troops have done. PAT BROE, Troop 290, Lowell, Massachusetts USA * For our project, we will be collecting toiletry items - shampoo, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes and washcloths. * We will make into boo-boo bunnies and bath puppets for the children, etc - and sewing floral material into gift bags and attaching a flower and donating to the families living at a battered women's house in our urban community. * Recently, this "House of Hope" may have made national news as a woman, trying to escape her "boyfriend", who was living at this shelter was gunned down at a school bus stop by this man, in front of her children and 12 others waiting for the bus. The things some children must live through on a daily basis is abominable. KAY, Troop 399, Somerset, New Jersey USA We are doing a service project on the service unit level. * I am running a SU Thinking Day event and each girl will bring either a pet food or people food to be donated to either the Franklin Animal Shelter or the Franklin Food Bank. * We are also doing another service project - being counted towards or councils annual 3-part community awareness program - reaching out to the elderly - we will be making some type of tray favors for either the Senior Citizens or local nursing homes. Some of the specific things that our troop has done: * Caroling for Cans. Every December our entire SU goes caroling for food for our local food pantry at the Salvation army. We put out fliers in our neighborhoods a week ahead of time and then one evening we carol at each house for canned goods. We then meet at our elementary school and put all of the collected food in a pickup truck and then warm up the girls with hot chocolate and cookies. * This year we also did a miniature golf event in the spring and asked each girl to bring a food item. We took these to the food pantry and they were very happy to get something in the spring. I think we to often remember them during the holidays but they feed others year round. * We have also adopted a bike trail in a local park that we clean up twice a year. We thought this was better than adopting a road it's safer for the girls. We are also volunteers to help the Parks department plant flowers in the fall. The girls are really looking forward to that. Hope this helps with you list. I would love to have a copy of what you get. Project: Community Clean-up & Flower Planting Your name & troop number: Anita, Brownie Troop 614 Your council: Hudson Valley Girl Scout Council Troop Level/Age Level: All Materials needed: Garbage Bags, gloves, flowers and garden tools How much time is involved?: About 2 hours of cleaning & about 2 hour per planting Project Outline (please include timeline): On Earth Day, our troop walked the streets of our village, and through our parks with garbage bags in tow picking up any trash in site. Then after mid-May we planted flower beds in various public locations in our village. During the fall, we also went back to some locations and planted spring bulbs. Who is involved (do you do this in cooperation with a school group or senior center, etc): Our troop & parents Is this done for another organization (ie. hospitals, March of Dimes, Cancer Society, Senior Center)?: It is done for our village - we planted flowers in front of our churches, school, memorials and municipal center. Have you done this project before, or will this be your first year?: This was our second year. If you have done this in the past, do you have any ideas or suggestions that could help someone else plan the event?: Try to pick locations that are not in constant sun light, and are easily accessible to water. This year was much easier because we received a lot more rain - last year, I had to drive around our village with 5-gallon pails of water to water the plants. Also, we picked hardier and fuller plants. Next year, we may add a few more perennials, so eventually, the beds will be mostly perennial, with a few annuals scattered in for additional color. Project: Donations to Pediatric Wards in Hospitals Your name & troop number: Anita, Brownie Troop 614 Your council: Hudson Valley Girl Scout Council Troop Level/Age Level: All Materials needed: material, PolyFil, construction paper, old coloring books, broken crayons, pizza boxes, wood dollars, wood cutouts. How much time is involved?: Probably about 5 hours over the course of weeks Project Outline (please include timeline): We are in the process of making toys to donate to our local hospitals for their pediatric wards. We are making small stuffed teddy bears, coloring books, checker boards and small cars. Teddy Bears: I traced a pattern of a teddy bear that was given to my daughter when she was in the hospital. I sewed about 18 ahead of time to keep the girls occupied while someone else was using the machine. While one girl was sewing around the bear, the others were stuffing & sewing up the opening. Coloring Books: For the coloring books, we will begin working on them soon. We have asked parents to go through old coloring books and find pictures that hadn't been colored yet. We will tear all of those pictures out, and make a small coloring book with maybe 4 or 5 pages in each. The girls will design their own individual covers for each of the ones their working on; then they will bind them. As for the crayons, we are going to take the old crayons, melt them down in tiny cupcake tins, and put them in plastic bags for each of the coloring books that we make. Checker Games: Then, we got a donation from one of our pizzeria/restaurants in the area of new pizza boxes. We are going to paint checker boards on the inside of them. Then we will also be painting the wooden dollar chips.. Wood Cars: Lastly, my husband loves cutting out wood, so he is donating about 20 wooden cut outs of cars for the girls to paint. Who is involved (do you do this in cooperation with a school group or senior center, etc): Our troop & parents Is this done for another organization (ie. hospitals, March of Dimes, Cancer Society, Senior Center)?: It is done for our local hospital. Have you done this project before, or will this be your first year?: In the process of our first year. If you have done this in the past, do you have any ideas or suggestions that could help someone else plan the event?: It's too soon to evaluate. Miscellaneous Web Sites which were submitted: http://members.aol.com/GSLdrKay/serviceideas.html & http://members.aol.com/GSLdrKay/kriskittens.html Service Project Ideas - submitted by Troop #399 GSLdrKay@aol.com http://www.guidezone.skl.com/i_bw_index.html - submitted by Mona Londraville leader - Cadette Girl Scout Troop 150 Thousand Islands GS Council, Watertown, New York, USA http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pointe/9385/ - Dianne Hegarty (ScottyGS@aol.com) Council Trainer, Cadette/Senior Leader, Lifetime Member Muir Trail Girl Scout Council, Modesto, CA Margaret Townsend Hydrogeologist University of Kansas Kansas Geological Survey 1930 Constant Avenue West Campus;Lawrence;KS;66047; Fax: (785) 864-5317 Work: (785) 864-3965 Netscape Conference Address ============================================= Subject: Service Projects Date:Thu, 13 May 1999 08:11:20 EDT From: CoxKuwait@cs.com To: aandb@fowler2.u-net.com Amanda, Anyway, here are a couple of ideas: 1 - When I was a Senior Girl Scout, (long ago, in the dark ages) we did a service project we called "Project Casa Blanca" which is Spanish for "White House." At the time, Reader's Digest offered grants to worthy projects and we wrote away and got a $500 grant. What we did was paint the houses, fences, etc. of elderly people who lived in a poorer section of my town. We weren't in the slums, or anything, mind you, just a lower-middle class section of town. These elderly people didn't have the money nor the physical ability to paint their houses, so we mustered a crew and painted houses for a weekend. We got local Boy Scouts involved in helping us and the project snowballed a little into some minor repair projects as well. The senior citizens certainly enjoyed it, we felt great, everyone burned up a little of that excess energy that teenagers have, there were BOYS there, and we got some great local PR as well. 2 - A Cadette troop here just had a project they called "Project Philippine Safe House." I am currently living in Kuwait and involved in USA Girl Scouts here. Many of the Kuwaitis have domestic employees, some of whom are Filipinas (women from the Philippines) If the women have a problem with their employer, sometimes it is very difficult for them, as they have no money to return home and nowhere to go that is provided by the government. Some expat women here set up a small house near the Philippine embassy and women can go there to escape abusive employers. The Cadette Girl Scouts decided that they could help out by soliciting donations of toiletries and personal items to give to these women. They publicized it at the school and among all the Girl Scout troops and received lots of donations of new items like toothbrushes, hairbrushes, combs, soap, shampoo, deodorant, underwear, mirrors, etc. The girls delivered these items to the safe house. 3 - When I was in Houston last year, there were some Senior Girl Scouts collecting items for "People Packets." They were collecting toiletries and personal items and making up large ZipLock bags of these items for specific age groups and sexes. The girls labeled these bags and delivered them to shelters for the homeless and women's shelters for abused women and their children. There were different items for teenage boys, for example, than for adult men or for preteen girls. The women's packets even included lipstick. The Seniors got other girl scouts to provide packets or the items to go into them by publicizing it and collecting at big events. Sometimes the girls could get patches or reduced admission fees or something for bringing in the packets. Well, back to the list. Hope at least one of these ideas sparks some idea for your girls! Yours in Girl Scouting and Guiding, Katie Cox "Kuwait Katie" =================================================== From: Therese DeSanto Subject: Re: Kid Care Kits MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Our Service Unit just present our local hospital with about 75 "Kid CareKits" for Pediatrics. My Junior troop as a service project - put thistogether. Because I work at our local hospital - I have an idea of what things getdonated to Pediatrics. What we did is present a flyer to all troops in our Service Unit (54 troops)suggesting that they could bring service to sick kids in our hospital. Troops were asked to make a kit which consisted of: a caboddle or small plastic container filled with lots of things to cheer a sick child. Weasked for all age levels - starting at Daisy to High School Seniors. We also said they could be designed for boys. We asked that the kits have get well cards in them as well. Kits included items such as body bath items, nail items, hair accessories to crayons, paper, small toys to books. The response was overwelming. We have had lots of comments from the nurses at our hospital have great this is. ================================================ From: "Leslie A. Scroble" Subject: Service Project To: WAGGGS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU I just wanted to share a really cool Service Project some of the members of our troop did on Saturday. We were contacted by one of our scouts father who is a member of the local Volunteer Fire Department. They needed some "victims" for new members of the department to rescue during training. They filled the room with nontoxic "smoke" made from vegetable oil blown through a mister - set up barriers through out the room and planted the victims. The troop was given a lesson on how to assist their own rescue by shouting or banging to make noise. A fireman in full dress is scarey - they can't talk very well with the air tank and they make weird sucking noises to breath. They wear sensors that beep if they are not moving, and at times they were blindfolded - so there was alot going on. The troop loved the excitement - the firemen and firewomen appreciated the help and we had a great learning experience for people of all ages. Ask you local FD - bet they would appreciate the offer!! Leslie =============================================== From: Debbie Tollison Organization: Rathskeller Bar Subject: Easy Service Project idea !!! Comments: To: WAGGGS-L@iupui.edu To: WAGGGS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU I have made this posting before I just wanted to refresh it in case some have missed it or forgotten about it, also I have a new e-mail address to let me know when you send the book. I have the opportunity to do an easy, fairly inexpensive service project that could help many children that I would like to share with you. I would also like to ask for your help. A good friend of mine has joined the Peace Corps and is in Namibia in Southern Africa. She has asked me to help her get books for the children and teachers there. They have very few if any, in some of the schools she visits. Books are very expensive in Namibia, and they are a very poor country. I have thought of having a book drive and that might help but most book drives end up with old, worn out, and out of date books. They actually need books that can withstand the long travel to get there, and be a joy to read, to encourage the children to want to learn. I thought it might be easier to ask many groups to purchase one good book and mail it themselves. This way it isn't too big of an expense for one group. I really would like to see this work. And with the cookie sales just getting done most troops have the money to help. Just think of how much we take books for granted. There are libraries in every town, and school. Our children get read to by teachers, librarians, siblings, and parents. How would our lives be without books. What a great opportunity to teach our girls just how lucky we are to have books. Let them decide what is there favorite book, which one they could purchase for other children that don't have any of there own or any to borrow. Please, Please, just ask your girls if they like to read and would want to help. Just one hard cover new book around $15.00 and mailing (around $15.00) could cost less than $30.00. This is more than I thought it would at first but it is still worth it. If your troop cannot afford all of it maybe you could work with other troops in your area. (PS. if you want to send a letter telling them about your troop it will cost much more to inclose a document so send it separate for 60 cents. Think of how much we have and take for granted. A new book would be so special to these children. Please pass this information on to other leaders They really need many books, If you would like to help with this project please e-mail me for the types of books they have asked for, and the address to send the book to. Thank you very much Debbie Tollison & Troop 119 in Portage, WI dtolly@merr.com (new address) From: Tia 120963 Subject: Another Service Project idea To: WAGGGS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU Hi Ladies and Gents, I haven't been around much due to my parents health problems, but now that everything is back to normal, for now, I just thought I'd send you this idea, someone else may have sent it already, I'm WAY behind in my email!! Go to this site http://www.cardsforkids.com they are looking for homemade cards to send to terminally ill kids, I just printed out two dozen from my computer, but you can have the girls make them with rubber stamps, stickers etc. They are also looking for envelopes, but if you can't make them, they will take just the cards, as long as they are a certain size, check out the web site for details.... Ethel B. Plymouth Bay From: Karen Antonaitis Subject: Check out Keep America Beautiful, Inc. To: WAGGGS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU Click here: Keep America Beautiful, Inc. Here is a great website for community service for any level of the GS. Karen Jules just forward this to me. I know they do love mail. For those of you on my Daisy List and Brownie list, this makes a great service unit project. My Daisy's did this type of thing when a friend of mine was in Bosnia. We were able to send a package. Since this is only asking for letters, You could do what my girls did. I gave each girl 10 pieces of paper and had them draw on it. I then typed in a message and had each girl sign each and every card. Including the letters. We had 5 responses and girls were tickled pink. Thanks, From: Kay Leslie Subject: Oklahoma Weather To: WAGGGS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU Our SU was having our year end dinner and awards ceremony last night. We were at a restaurant in Tulsa. We were cut short by all the severe weather. The awards were quickly handed out and everyone went home. Our SU manager received a special council Thank You award. Also, I was surprised to find out that I was chosen to receive our council's Spirit of Girl Scouting award. It was a nice surprise. I live in Broken Arrow, right next to Tulsa. Lucky for me and my family all the storms passed by us. Although the sirens did go off about midnight and we headed for the bathroom, I don't think we were in any real danger. My mother and sister live in OKC and the tornado was south of them so they are safe. Haven't been able to contact friends to know how they are. (I lived in OKC for 20 years) I'm sure in the next day or two there will be a call for supplies. At this time (speaking from experience, as a Red Cross volunteer and tornado damage victim) if you want to do something to help. Call your local Red Cross, they will be glad to give you suggestions on how you can help. Of course any cash donation will be greatly appreciated and used were needed. Something else to keep in mind. The Red Cross has a project called Friendship boxes. These are small boxes that you can fill and take to the Red Cross. They will then distribute the boxes when and where they are needed. My Junior (soon to be Cadettes) have done this. We included toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, combs, pencils and paper, band aids, small sewing kit. The Red Cross gives you a list of the things you can include. This is a great service project that can be done anytime and really help those in need. Call your local Red Cross for more info and details. YIGGS, Kay Leslie BA, OK Magic Empire, Br & Jr leader, SU Br consultant kayleslie@juno.com From: Mary Baumann Subject: Armed Forces Day - May 15th To: WAGGGS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU For all those who want to Honor our military men and women this month, just thought you would like to know that May 15th is National Armed Forces Day. Very appropriate to put on those cards :) yigggs, Mary L. Baumann 10yr. USAF Vet. Daisy Troop 487 Tumwater WA From: "Lee H." Subject: Fwd: Armed Forces Day - May 15th (military addys) Comments: To: WAGGGS-L@iupui.edu To: WAGGGS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU Several have asked for the Military Addresses. So here is the post from Mary Ann McKenney on the 22nd of April. Thank You Mary Ann for sharing them:) yigggs, Mary L. Baumann Daisy Troop 487 Tumwater WA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here are addresses to write to the military, particularly in the Balkans. Mary Ann McKenney Marietta. GA Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps land forces in Bosnia/Kosovo: Any Service Member Operation Joint Guard APO AE 09397 Navy and Marine Corps personnel aboard ship: Any Service Member Operation Joint Guard FPO AE 09398 Families in Germany: Any Family Member Operation Joint Guard APO AE 09399 MAIL TO OUR TROOPS ELSEWHERE OVERSEAS For mail to troops in other parts of the world, we suggest that you contact the United Services Organization, (USO), a non-Government group which sponsors activities for service personnel. Some USOgroups have programs which promote pen pal exchanges. Individuals should write to: Executive Director, United Services Organization,Inc. 601 Indiana Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20004 Individuals may also consider writing a letter to the editors of Service oriented newspapers. Army Times, Navy Times, and Air Force Times, are commercial enterprises operated from the same address: 6885Commercial Drive, Springfield, Virginia 22159. The Stars & Stripes is a daily newspaper published exclusively for U.S. military stationed overseas. The address for the Far East edition is Pacific Stars &Stripes, APO JA 96337 and for the European edition, it is Stars & Stripes, APO AE 09211. From: "Traci Mills" Hi all, I am a firm believer in Girl Scouts doing service projects. I have a Jr. troop with 14 girls. This year we learned how to weed flower beds. I had the "garden lady" at our church come to a meeting (we used to meet at my church) and show the girls how to use gardening tools, which plants to pull and how to water. Our church has a huge Garden Sanctuary on a busy corner, so, since it is for the community to see and use, I counted this as service hours. Last October, we celebrated Juliette Low's birthday and each girl had to bring a canned food as her gift to the local food bank. We collected two grocery sacks of food, which my church sent along thier food donation. Another thing we did was to string popcorn and cranberries and hang the strings in the trees around a nursing home. This was done in November. The residents of the nursing home could then watch the birds come and eat from the strings of food. Our latest project is making cloth teddy bears for The Rainbow Room. This is a program run by Child Protective Services where clothing, toiletries and school supplies are given to children that are removed from the home. Along with the necessary items, they are given a "cuddly item". We are doing this project with a Cadette troop. They will cut and sew the bears, and we will stuff them and stitch up the little hole, plus paint the face and tie a bow around the bear's neck. The pattern we are using is very simple, 4 pieces. This past week, the supervisor from CPS came to our meeting and explained what abuse is, talked breifly about the different kinds of abuse, without a lot of detail, and we had a great discussion about what to do if a friend is being abused. From: "suzanna" hi Traci....we are very into service projects too and try to plan on doing one a month....one the girls really enjoy was preparing a meal for a shut in....they cooked and cleaned it all up....what a riot....we do a food drive each year and donate it to the YWCA....next weekend we will be helping with the sagebrush planting in conjunction with the World Wildlife Foundation....we also adopted a an adopted Grandpa that we trimmed a little tree and sang Christmas carols too ....boy was he surprised..!!.... ______________________________ From: "Mary Beth Dean" mbdean@erols.com For our Service Project, we painted signs for a local ArtFest. The girls had a blast painting. The signs will be posted along the roadway going to the fest. ________________________________ From: Wayne & Cheryl Landmann Subject: Re: Service Projects Hi everyone - I'm Cheryl from Yorba Linda, Ca. and I have 18 4th graders in my troop. Tomorrow, (yes on a Sunday - we try to do extra, fun things on the weekend once in a while and include the families) we are having a "Binky Patrol" workshop. Each girl is to bring a piece of flannel and they will finish it into a receiving blanket for an infant. Our council is introducing a sewing badge, so we are hoping that this will count in some way for part of a skills requirement. They also voted to use some troop money (we just finished cookies) and we bought some 4oz bottles to go with them. Then, they will each buy either a pacifier or teething ring or something like that and we will bundle the items together. They haven't decided if we're going to donate them to the local hospital or a childrens' shelter that has a section for teen moms. Other ideas - Our community does a "Christmas Bag" project for Indian children in the 4 corners area. This could be adapted for Social Services needs or childrens' shelters. Next week we will be making Easter baskets and donating them to one of our local churches for their giving program. We do window painting during Christmas holidays and occasionally at Easter. (The girls really like this one!) We will be doing a canned food drive in the fall. We're thinking about doing more activities with a local Senior Citizens retirement complex. We caroled for them at Christmas and everyone had a blast! ==================================================== Subject:service projects Date Fri, 7 May 1999 08:04:25 +0000 From:mreicks@turkey-v.k12.ia.us To:aandb@FOWLER2.U-NET.COM Amanda- A list of service projects would be endless- I'll try to list just a few we've done recently: landscaped the building where we hold our meetings and maintain it built a bluebird trail around our school grounds and maintain it designed a town sign and donated toward new town signs purchased Girl Scout signs which we put up under our town signs donated books to school library tie balloon animals at our school carnival (over 400 balloons in 3 hours!) make balloon animals at Ronald McDonald House (where families of critically ill children can stay while there child receives treatment) collected winter clothing for school children collect food pantry items entertained at Senior meal site made thank you notes for our Girl Scout council to use made cookies for our sponsors collected toiletry items for women's shelter collected markers, pencils... and sent to Sangam sang carols at nursing homes Just a few- if you need more let me know. YiGGGS, Mary Reicks northeast Iowa USA