SPRING 2003 NUGGETS

The third grade Brownie Girl Scouts of Sequoia Elementary had very specific ideas of the type of service projects that they wished to do. "Something for our school, something for needy children at Christmas, something for seniors, and something for veterans or soldiers." This year's service projects to date have more than met their goals.

In October the majority of our school's Girl Scout troops participated in the "Mulch Sequoia" project to benefit the beautification committee's efforts. The girls loved trying out wheelbarrows, shovels, and practicing teamwork. For senior citizens our troop performed songs and skits, along with 8 other troops, at the Sequoia 5th annual Halloween/Juliette Low celebration at the Chateau III assisted living facility.

In December each Brownie Girl Scout shopped for a needy child's Christmas present, which were donated to "Christmas for Everyone" in Concord. Girls were surprised at how much or how little $10 will buy at a toy store and we now "don't forget the tax"! The girls also selected the age and sex of the child to receive the presents.

I was worried that we had missed the holiday deadlines for sending a message to men and women serving in the military but I recently found out that Operation Dear Abby would be operating indefinitely. Since security concerns suspended letter delivery in 2001, the project is now on-line. If you want to send a greeting to a Sailor, Soldier, Marine, Coast Guardsman visit www.OperationDearAbby.net. I urge parental supervision if girls participate to ensure on-line safety practices are followed.

We just delivered our painted vases to the Contra Costa Volunteer center for the American Cancer Society's annual March Gift of Hope project. What a fun project to know that someone will really enjoy our crafting and we were even supplied with brushes and paints in addition to the vases. Thanks to our Association chair, Audrey Slaughter, for getting Girls Scouts involved in this project.

For our final service project this spring we will be making tray favors for the Meals on Wheels project. If your troop chooses to do this project, the craft count is requested to be 16 (or multiples of 16) as that is the number of meals on each volunteer drivers route.

Senior Troop #960 has found out that a fall and winter of volunteering is great fun and a great way to give back to the community. In October they helped over 250 kids carve pumpkins at Navelet's Nursery in Pleasant Hill. In December they helped wrap Christmas presents with the Concord Police department. With lots of helping hands the halls at the police station were filled with wrapped Christmas presents for kids who otherwise might not receive any.

Have you ever been volunteered inside of already volunteering? We were. In January we all became Quail Rangers for the Parks and Service Department. We went to Contra Loma to help plant large trees and build quail nesting sites when we were asked by the leaders of another Brownie Girl Scout troop to help their girls with the quails. How could we turn down another volunteering opportunity? Each Senior Girl Scout took 3 of the Brownie Girl Scouts and planted trees, built nests and had a great day becoming the next generation of leaders.

Well it can't be all work and no play so we enjoyed the IMAX movie and lunch at Applebee's. We then earned our Stress to Success badge and had a masseuse come and teach the girls how to give massages. I am sure that when they got home their families volunteered them to show them what they learned!

This year the girls from Troop 328 bridged to Junior Girl Scouts. We discussed how we would run the troop for the next three years and made a major change. No longer would the leader decide what we would do at each meeting and how to earn badges. This duty now falls onto the girls who indicated they would love to tackle this new leadership task. Each girl selects a badge, designs the 6 activities, receives approval from the troop leader on the activities, then schedules the time at troop meeting she needs to complete each activity. She types or writes detailed information or requests for "homework" which she distributes to the other girls. The skills they are acquiring are time management, budgeting and project management skills. Each girl is the "girl or leader in charge" during the times she has scheduled to run her activities. So far, the troop has 9 girls participating.

As a First Grade Brownie Girl Scout Troop, it is always exciting when older Girl Scouts can come and join us at our meetings. We were delighted when approached by two Junior Girl Scouts (4th Graders) about earning their Junior Aide Award. The girls needed to help plan activities for 3 meetings this year to earn this award. They met with troop leaders to share ideas. Their first meeting with our troop revolved around earning the Girl Scouts Around the World Try-it with our troop. The Junior Girl Scouts planned some fun stations for our girls and in one meeting, we were able to meet the requirements for that Try-it. It seemed even more appropriate and meaningful that it was other Girl Scouts showing us the ways of other girls around the world.

Brownie Girl Scout troop 1946 enjoyed learning about the American flag while working on the Wave the Flag Try-It. The girls brought in books from the school library to learn some interesting flag facts. For a craft, we used perler beads to make a flag key chain. We learned how to fold and care for the flag properly. We read The Pledge of Allegiance, (Scholastic Inc.) that beautifully illustrates what the pledge means. Finally, the girls wrote letters and drew picture to our brave soldiers on flag stationary. I was touched by how simple and sweet their letters were. Each letter began with Dear Soldiers,:

The ten Brownie Girl Scouts of Troop 158 were happy to be "in the middle" this year. They helped Daisy Girl Scout Troop 736 explore "bridging to Brownies" activities. They will participate in a hike and activities with Junior Troop 1152 to learn about Junior Girl Scouting for their own "bridging to Juniors" requirements.

The Daisy Girl Scouts each picked a Brownie Girl Scout buddy to be with for the whole meeting. The Brownie Girl Scouts taught the Daisy Girl Scouts the "Buddies and Pals" song, the "Smile" song with both Daisy and Brownie verses. After Brownie Circle sharing about what Daisy Girl Scouts can look forward to in Brownie Girl Scouting, the girls presented "The Juliette Low Story" embellished with their own acting/singing styles. The meeting closed with a friendship squeeze, the usual rousing rendition of "Make New Friends" and each Daisy Girl Scout received a Brownie pencil from her new friend.

On Dec.18, 2002, Girl Scout Troop 2466 hosted a Holiday Tea Party for the Senior volunteer members of the Strandwood Elementary Read and Dream Team. These seniors volunteer their time every week to read with students. The Tea Party took place at the Pleasant Hill Community Center and every Senior was greeted at the door by a Girl Scout hostess and presented with a beautiful corsage.

As the girls interacted with their special guests they learned a lot. They found out how active the seniors were in our community, they learned about their childhood activities and discovered details about their personal life. One Girl Scout even marveled that "Seniors aren¹t old, they have experience!"

During the tea everyone enjoyed the delicious treats which included cucumber sandwiches, pumpkin tarts, crème puffs and homemade scones with Devonshire cream. The girls recited a few poems about tea, much to the enjoyment of their guests.