Girls Earn Bronze Award

Ashley of Decatur earned her award for hosting an after school club for boys and girls.

Mary, Gabrielle, Hanna, Mia, Victoria and Madelyn of Madison earned their award for making improvements at Camp Trico.

Tiffany of Hazel Green earned her award for hosting a Christmas party for the residents at the Agape Retirement Village.

Melissa, Alyssa, Shawnell, Christina, Jacaqueline, Mary Grace, Emma, Rachel and Sarah of Hazel Green earned their awards for their project, Hawaiian Luau Craft Day they hosted for Daisy and Brownie Girl Scouts.

Janie of Huntsville earned her award by hosting a day of International Imagination where she hosted a picnic and fixed bikes so international students at UAH would have a form of transportation.

Makenzie of Toney earned her award for her work with Locks of Love.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award is the highest award a Girl Scout Junior can earn. This award recognizes that a Girl Scout Junior has gained the leadership and planning skills required to follow through with a project that makes a positive difference in her community.

Athens Girls Earn Bronze Award

Lacey Beth, Lauren, Beka, Kate, Anna, Holly, Emma, and Kara of Athens earned their award for hosting a Parent's Night Out at Athens Bible School.

Girls Earn Gold Awards

Rebecca of Huntsville recently earned her Gold Award for her project entitled "Holy Spirit Church Database" The Gold Award the highest level of achievement a Girl Scout can reach and requires 65 hours of planning or service. The Gold Award honors the girl's commitment to service, her community and to her future. To earn her Gold Award, Rebecca created a written record of every valuable item in each room of her church. The church had no record of what was in each room, and if an accident or theft were to occur, its members would have no way of knowing how much was lost. Rebecca took pictures of all the items and organized them in a database. She then educated church members on how to use the database and keep their valuables safe and organized.

Jessi of Hartselle also recently earned her Gold Award for her project to redesign the upstairs dormitory at the Carver Baptist Center in New Orleans. The center is used to house groups who come to volunteer to improve the community and help rebuild New Orleans. Jessi painted the room and put up new blinds and hardware. She also refinished and repaired the wood cabinetry and refinished the metal shelving. Now thanks to Jessi's hard work, volunteers have a more pleasant environment to stay in when they visit the Caver Baptist Center.

Whitney of Hartselle also earned her Gold Award for her work at the Carver Baptist Center. For her project, Whitney refurbished Carver's playground and made it larger, safer and more attractive to visitors. She added equipment to the playground and extended the play set by adding a ladder and a slide. She also fixed the broken monkey bars and replaced an unsafe climbing wall with a new, safer version. She also left some physical fitness guidelines for children at Carver in hopes that the playground's future visitors could benefit from them.

Huntsville Girl Earns Gold Award

Amethyst of Huntsville recently earned her Gold Award for her project entitled "Young Girls Health Initiative." The Gold Award the highest level of achievement a Girl Scout can reach and requires 65 hours of planning or service. The Gold Award honors the girl's commitment to service, her community and to her future. To earn her Gold Award, Amethyst created a program to educate young girls about various health issues they may face as they enter young adulthood. She covered topics ranging from pregnancy and STD prevention to dating, self-image and body issues. Amethyst enlisted the help of health professionals from around Madison County and A&M University to come speak to the girls. She even made TV and radio appearances to promote the event. Amethyst's hard work and dedication to this project truly embodies the spirit of the Gold Award and what it means to be a Girl Scout. Congratulations, Amethyst!

Brookwood Forest Brownie Troop has Gone to the Dogs

The girls of Brownie Troop 31 in Mountain Brook recently visited the Greater Birmingham Humane Society. Education Director, Cathy Stewart, talked to the girls about the importance of humane treatment of animals. The troop also enjoyed a guided tour of the facility complete with friendly dogs and cute kittens.

After the program, Troop 31 presented GBHS Executive Director, Jacque Meyer with a check for $1200 to fund programs and help animals in Alabama. The donation was the result of the Brownie Scouts hard-work and dedication to sell as many Girl Scout cookies as possible. The girls volunteered to dedicate their earnings to the Greater Birmingham Humane Society. Troop 31 members are proud to take action in making their community a better place for people and their four-legged friends.

Girl Scouts Dinner and Showcase

Service Unit 35 will host the “First Annual Girl Scouts Dinner and Showcase.” In keeping with the renewal, “renaissance,” occurring with our local council, The theme is “The Renaissance: From Europe to Harlem through the Girl Scouts.” This is an opportunity for the girls to learn a little about the Renaissance of Europe and the Renaissance of Harlem while experiencing their own “rebirth” in scouting.

April 18, 2009

6:00pm – 9:00 pm

Good Shepherd United Methodist Church

1418 Old Railroad Bed Road, Madison, Alabama 35757

The purpose of this event is to designate a time once a year to illuminate the skills and talents developed, nurtured, and/or enhanced by their experiences in scouting. And to enrich the public’s awareness of Girls in scouting and their talents. Come in support of the many skills and talents of our area Girl Scouts! Partake in their delicious meal served buffet style.

Cost: $8.00 per Scout or Attendee

Please visit http://www.girlscoutsnca.org/documents/GSBanquetandShowcaseRegistration.pdf for more information. Space is LIMITED!

Annual International Tea

Rocky Heights Service Unit held their Annual International Tea to celebrate World Thinking Day. Troops represented different countries and were responsible for setting up a booth that gave information about each country represented. They also made food and planned a song, dance and/or skit. The girls went around to the different booths that represented each country with a passport that got stamped to mimic real life travel. Then they had to answer a scavenger hunt question about each country. In addition, each troop brought loose change to donate to the Juliette Low World Friendship Fund and raised nearly $75.

Girls Earn Gold Award

Christen’s project was to establish walking teams at her church that were led by youth, ages 8-12, to create awareness of obesity and lack of exercise. The youth were to find people to walk on their teams and provide motivation and competition with the other teams. She met her goals by staying on task and meeting regularly with the youth to ensure the teams were on track. Christen learned that younger people can be great motivators to their friends and families to lead healthy lifestyles. She is a senior at Hueytown High School.

Lindsey collected unused medical supplies from different support groups and then delivered them to Cooper Green Hospital to give them to uninsured patients who might need them after being discharged. Lindsey met with administrators at Cooper Green and support groups to present her project and her goals. Through her initial project, Lindsey has set up an ongoing donation program in some of the support groups she solicited. Lindsey has learned that she is the only one who can limit herself from succeeding. She is a sophomore at Oak Mountain High School.

By using herself as an example, Hanna wrote a book to explain the problems she suffers with dyslexia so that teachers and parents could become more familiar with the symptoms. She did a great deal of research and conducted several interviews with experts on dyslexia. Hanna learned that you need others to help with large projects and that it is important not to procrastinate. She is a junior at Chelsea High School.

Kate’s project included building wooden benches for Southminster Presbyterian Church’s Prayer Garden, providing an educational nature guide to be used by the Southminster Day School’s first and second graders, and creating ideas for Brownie Try-Its. Kate organized the project, designed and purchased materials for the benches, as well as coordinated volunteers from Southminster’s Youth Group to build the benches. Kate learned how planning in advance can help keep a project moving smoothly and how to take responsibility for it. She also learned how to operate a table saw! Kate is a senior at Vestavia Hills High School.

When the house of one of Erika’s closest friends burned down just before Christmas in 2002, she became aware of the importance of fire safety in the home. She consulted with the local fire chief and created educational materials announcing several smoke alarm drives in the Moody area. She coordinated volunteers to visit homes in her neighborhood to install free smoke alarms, check batteries of existing alarms, and share fire safety tips with homeowners and their families. Through this process, Erika learned that she could be a leader. Erika is a junior at Moody High School.

In order to educate younger children on the issues they are faced with, Raven used a series of meetings, activities, and games to address poor healthcare and hygiene, low self-esteem, weight control, and lack of physical activity. Raven used fun ice-breakers, serious discussions, and educational games to show younger children how they could enjoy learning. She implemented surveys and used feedback to evaluate her project’s effectiveness. Raven learned that one voice can make a difference. She is a senior at John Carroll Catholic High School.
 
Nancy used her Gold Award project to help the homeless women and children at Pathways. She collected towels, toiletries, and suitcases to donate to the people served by the organization by hanging flyers to increase community involvement. Nancy also mailed letters seeking donations so she could purchase some items herself. She met with Girl Scout troops to create awareness of her project and solicit their help in collecting items. Nancy learned how to get organized and not procrastinate on important projects and goals. She is a senior at Vestavia Hills High School.

Rachel started the “Going Green at THS” program because she saw how much paper was being wasted at Thompson High School. Her goal was to encourage everyone to recycle at her school. Rachel put bins in each classroom and came up with a system to manage the program. Her project collected over six tons of paper products the first semester, and she is in the process of adding plastic this semester. Rachel has learned that if you try hard enough, you can get anybody to help you do something productive. She is a sophomore at Thompson High School.

Casie wanted to help revitalize the historic Theatre of Gadsden, so she led a team of volunteers in remodeling and reorganizing the prop area. She set meetings, obtained the necessary permissions, and wrote letters to acquire donations to fund her project. She recruited volunteers and led trainings to ensure everyone knew how to safely use the tools and then held several workdays. When the project was complete, she held an open house for the theatre members to evaluate her work. Casie learned how to supervise a project and how to manage her stress. She is a senior at Gadsden City High School.

Coosa Valley Area Girls Celebrate World Thinking Day

On February 22 ten local troops celebrated Girl Scout World Thinking Day in Chelsea, AL with the Golden Chain of Friendship, a symbol of connection between girls throughout the world. As each scout adds a link to the chain, she thinks about Sister Scouts in other countries and how they might be different from her local troop. Girls also sampled food from over 10 different countries.

In addition, this gathering served as a health awareness event to "Make The World A Better Place". The scouts contributed caps & hats for Children's Hospital cancer patients and participated in workshops on asthma and anti-smoking.

Athens Girl Earns Gold Award

Aundrea of Athens also earned her Gold Award for her project entitled "Blankets for Babies." Aundrea planned to make 100 blankets for the babies in the neonatal unit at the Huntsville Hospital. Aundrea is currently studying nursing at Freed-Hardeman University and hopes to become a neonatologist. Her love of helping babies inspired her to do something to help those who help the babies in the NICU at Huntsville Hospital. Each blanket was made to be a lasting memorial of the ones who helped the babies and their families long after they left the hospital. Aundrea also created a Facebook group to get her friends involved in the project and enlisted them to help make the blankets. Together they created 100 blankets and Aundrea was able to spread the word about the Neonatal Unit and the people who work there.

Girls Earn Gold Award

Jenell of Huntsville and Jasmine of Harvest earned their Gold Awards by working together to organize a fine arts program called "Expression Through the Arts" for youth in the area. The project was designed to encourage youth to participate in the arts.

Jenell and Jasmine helped launch a community awareness campaign with marketing materials including posters and signs posted through the community. Their goal was to encourage the program to continue in some form through the support of local organizations.

The girls say they have learned many lessons from their Gold Award project including proper planning, listening, how to set deadlines to complete tasks, and that by working together much can be accomplished.

Cadette Lends a Helping Hand

Gabrielle, a Cadette in Troop # 1236, showed that random acts of kindness really can make a difference. While shopping at her local Wal-Mart, Gabrielle noticed a lost credit card on the ground in the parking lot and picked it up. She contacted Wal-Mart and was able to locate the owners of the card. The card belonged to the Community Action Agency of Northwest Alabama, Inc., a United Way program that empowers low-income families. Because of Gabrielle's thoughtfulness, the Community Action Agency can continue their mission of helping families in need. This kind of consideration for others is the essence of what it means to be a Girl Scout -- to serve others and make the world a better place.

Girls Earn Silver Award

Claire and Jana of Huntsville earned their Silver Awards for their work with the Veterans' Home Library. The girls organized the library at Tuftan's Veterans' Home. The home's existing library was not easily accessible and did not meet the Veterans' Administration requirements. The girls took all the contents off the shelves, reorganized the books and removed furniture that blocked wheelchair access. Now the home has a well-organized and user-friendly library that is accessible to everyone.
 
Megan of Huntsville also earned her Silver Award for her project entitled "Teaching Children About Fitness and Soccer." She worked with the local YMCA to organize a three day soccer camp for kids ages 5-12. The camp covered the fundamentals of soccer and focused on the importance of fitness and sportsmanship in both athletics and daily life.

Sarah of Madison earned her Silver Award for a service project in which she put together a handbook to cover the fundamentals of camping. The book includes camping tips and safety guidelines.
 
Paige and Kelsey of Decatur earned their Silver Awards for their work with the Mental Health Association. Their project was aimed at educating people about autism and other mental illnesses.
 
Amanda of Decatur earned her Silver Award for her project entitled "Resources of Mental Health Association."
 
Sarah of Harvest earned her Silver Award for her project "Building Hope for the Future." She helped remodel the teen room at the Hope Place.

Maura of Huntsville earned her Silver Award for organizing a Friendship Festival for her town.
 
The Silver Award is the highest award a Girl Scout Cadette can earn and requires at least 40 hours of planning or service. Congrats to these girls on a job well done!