Girl Scout Brownies help make Colchester a better place
Troop has donated to Ronald McDonald House and UVM Children’s Hospital
June 30, 2023
COLCHESTER, VT – Brownie Troop 62615 in Colchester is a group of 11 Girl Scouts who have worked hard to make their community a better place, earned new skills through a variety of badge work, and took advantage of the Girl Scout Cookie Program to make it all happen.
Leader Jennifer Gruda, along with her supportive helpers, Michelle Norton and Holly Burbo, guided their Brownies to decide what their goals would be.
“During cookie season this year,” she said, “we brainstormed as a troop ideas for fun activities and community service projects to do with our cookie proceeds, explaining we will budget 50 percent of what we earn for fun, 25 percent for community service, and 25 percent for troop savings/expenses/badge work. We filled out our troop target with our cookie sale goals to achieve these ideas with our ultimate target being set at 1,500 packages of cookies. The girls exceeded their target goal, selling 1,780 packages. We then took a vote and decided on movie night and open gymnastics gym time for our fun activity, and donating toys and children’s books to the UVM Children’s Hospital and Ronald McDonald House.”
The troop reached out to the UVM Children’s Hospital to see how they could help, and found that activity kits for children would be helpful. They purchased items with their cookie proceeds and assembled about 80 kits with coloring supplies, stickers, painting materials, Play-Doh, bubbles, modeling clay, fidget toys, squishies, and more. They included hand-drawn pictures in the kits for a personal touch.
These Girl Scouts also collected can top tabs, which the Ronald McDonald House converts to funds that help pay for a family’s stay and meals while a loved one is staying at the hospital. In addition, cookie proceeds allowed the Girl Scouts to purchase and donate needed items from the Ronald McDonald House wish list, including bottled water, sheets and towels, and infant clothes, toys, and sensory books.
Taking action is important to these Girl Scouts. The troop earned six badges in the past year, participated in the annual Green Up Day community cleanup for the town of Colchester, learned about recycling from the Chittenden Solid Waste District, and had visits from Colchester Rescue and Vermont Astronomical Society. There was a lot of fun, too, including visiting the Echo Science Center, annual town gingerbread house/caroling/tree lighting, open gym gymnastics, seeing the Little Mermaid at the movie theater, seeing a Disney on Ice event, attending Girl Scout winter camp at Twin Hills for sledding/s’mores/snowshoeing fun, and adopting a new friend at a Build-a-Bear workshop held at the Williston Girl Scout shop in the spring. They celebrated the end of the troop year with an ice cream sundae party and playground fun.
Gruda said she puts in a lot of work planning and carrying out all these activities, but it’s worth it.
“Yes, definitely very fulfilling!” she said. “Especially when we are able to give back to the community and make a difference, or when the girls learn something new as part of the badge work, feeling proud, and I learn a lot from them, too! Definitely makes it all worthwhile.”
Both adults and girls are invited to join the Girl Scout mission to create young women of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. Find out more at www.girlscoutsgwm.org.
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Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains serves girls throughout New Hampshire and Vermont through volunteer-run troops, events, and virtual programs. Visit www.girlscoutsgwm.org to learn more.
