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Community Service
- Margaret
Meade
Our founder, Juliette Low, believed that girls could and should provide
service wherever it was needed, within the abilities of the girls. Girl
Scouts have always been dedicated to service to their country. They
served in hospitals, Red Cross sewing rooms, rolled fabric strips for
bandages, raised vegetables for the war effort and sent packages to
troops overseas. They taught the American way to young immigrant girls.
Their service to mankind had a profound effect on the people it touched
and the entire country.
Service remains an integral part of the Girl Scout way of life and every
troop should do a service project with their girls yearly or more often.
Please visit the Program section of our site for information on our
Council-wide Community Service Project for 2004-2005:
Building U
Service Project Ideas:
Collection Drives
Shelters, nursing homes, schools, day cares, hospitals, animal shelters
and other agencies in your local communities need different items to
serve the needs of their clients. Be sure to check with those groups
first – before starting your collection drive – to determine their
current needs. Below is a list of some of the most commonly needed
items:
School Supplies
Books / Magazines Craft Supplies
Toilet Articles
Toys / Games
Stuffed Animals
Non-perishable food items
Eye Glasses (Lion’s Club) Clothing
Pet Food
One Warm Coat
Collect warm coats for donation to local shelters. Go to
www.onewarmcoat.org
for instructions and to register your project.
Share Your Skills
Share a talent or skill that you have with others. Some ideas are listed
below:
- Babysitting for community meetings / classes such as: Leader’s
meetings, Adult ESL classes or other community events.
- Teach younger children something you have learned: games, songs, how
to do a craft, camping skills, science activities, sports, etc..
- Put on a talent show, puppet show or host a theme activity for a group
of young children or a local senior center.
- Make cards, placemats, tray favors, holiday decorations for VA
hospital, nursing homes, Meals on Wheels, etc.
Clean-up
Participate in clean-up efforts in your local community or host an event
of your own design. Some suggestions are listed below:
- Christiana River Clean-up or other waterway clean-up in your local
area.
- Clean-up the outdoor (or indoor) area around your troop meeting place.
- Contact a city or state park in your area. Most have list of clean-up
opportunities for youth groups.
- Clean-up one of your council’s camps - Country Center, DE;
Grove Point, MD; Camp Todd, MD or Sandy Pines, MD. Call the council office for information about the present
needs at each camp, 302-456-7150.
Developing a Service Project:
All age levels should do service.
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Identify a problem or need in your community that your girls
care about and one that has components girls their age can do.
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Brainstorm ways you can help.
Consider:
a.
Resources needed-supplies, money, people, meeting space
b. What will it cost to implement your plan?
c. Who else can help you?
d. What permissions do you need?
e. What are the Girl Scout policies and Safety Wise guidelines?
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Make a
decision on what you
will do.
a. Develop a time line and a budget.
b. Ask for the help you need.
c. Gather permissions, supplies, people and materials.
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Make it happen!
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Evaluate your project
a. Did you solve a problem?
b. What did you learn?
c. Was it worth doing?
d. Did it give you an idea for your next service project?
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Age Level Tips
Daisies: Keep the project simple and
one where girls can have a hands-on experience. Make cards or door
hangings for a senior center or nursing home, pot flowers (real or hand
made) for shut-ins, or collect gently used children’s books to donate to
a hospital, pre-school or child care center.
Brownies: Animal shelters are always
in need of animal toys, chew bones, collars, pet blankets and other
items that their budgets may not support. By providing some of these
items, girls make shelter life a little more pleasant for an animal
awaiting adoption.
Juniors: This age loves interaction.
Any project in cooperation with another group or individual benefits
both. Consider adopting a senior, providing service at a nursing home or
day care or an environmental project with a local agency or at a Girl
Scout camp.
Cadettes/Seniors: Individual service
projects should reflect a girl’s career interests. Troop service should
impact the community. Sponsor an after-school activity, a childcare
event during the holidays for shoppers, or patch/badge workshops for
younger girls as well as environmental projects like planting beach
grasses, trees or renewing an old cemetery and tracing its history.
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