Girl Scouts of Western Pennsylvania is honored to present the members of Troop 40805 with the Girl Scout Bronze Award, the highest recognition for achievement in Girl Scouting for girls in Junior Girl Scouts. Members of the troop include:
- Morgan Blystone – Indiana Area Junior High School, sixth grade
- Stella Empfield – Indiana Area Junior High School, sixth grade
- Ava Hutchinson – Indiana Area Junior High School, sixth grade
- Laura Keppich – Indiana Area Junior High School, sixth grade
- Sienna Quinn – Horace Mann Elementary, fifth grade
- Rebekah Tew – Indiana Area Junior High School, sixth grade
The Bronze Award recognizes Girl Scouts who demonstrate extraordinary leadership through sustainable and measurable Take Action projects that address important community needs.
Junior Troop 40805 identified hunger in the community as the cause they wanted to address. In their work toward the award, each Scout contributed at least 20 hours of service and completed several projects which focused on bringing awareness to the issue of hunger and food insecurity.
To bring awareness troop members participated in all or part of a combination of the following projects:
- Holding two separate food drives which garnered 1200 lbs. of non-perishable items for Indiana County Community Action Program
- Volunteering to fill Power Pack food bags for distribution in public schools in Indiana County
- With the new Forest Food Community Gard in the Chevy Chase community of Indiana:
- Clean-up day to prepare the area for future plantings
- Build and donate a Little Free Pantry for use at the garden
- Purchase and donate fruit trees for the garden
- Brochure creation and letter-writing campaign to distribute to 90 Indiana County businesses with a goal of educating and encouraging them to hold a food drive with employees in their companies.
“We can help our community in so many ways but most importantly it is our job to make a change that will last forever,” said Empfield. “I enjoyed being able to work as a team to help our community in so many different ways.”
The troop was supported in their Bronze Award effort by troop leader Dottie Neal and volunteers Sue Dickson, Jan Keating, and Craig Neal. Many thanks to the businesses and organizations in the Indiana community that donated manpower or facilities to the effort including Indiana County Community
Action Program, Food Forest Community Garden located in the Chevy Chase neighborhood, Indiana Giant Eagle and their generous customers who donated money and canned goods, the neighbors and friends of Forest Manor neighborhood who gave generously for a food drive, and to the parents of each Scout who support the girls in their efforts.
The members of Troop 40805 used their strength, talents, and skills and put their plan into action to earn the Bronze Award while each taking a leadership role.