Mission Possible: Girl Scouts Lead Change

Imagine a world where the creative power of girls to make positive change has been unleashed.

Then, imagine that this positive change is replicated by thousands of girls.This is just what happened this past weekend in New York’s Capital District.Girls across the 16 counties that make up the Girl Scouts of the Northeastern New York Council – 14,000 girls strong – participated in a myriad of community service projects that formed the Mission Possible Weekend Event: a “celebration of all the POSSIBILITIES available to girls, adults and communities when they work together.” (GSNENY)

Some of the Mission Possible Projects:

• 9/11 Memorial Tile Project – Girls are building their very own”Reflection Wall,” a place for the community to reflect and remember those that gave their lives that day.
• Girls Bringing a Smile – Girls will tie-dye bandanas and decorate them as gifts for the adolescent patients of the Pediatric Oncology Unit of Albany Medical Center.
• Rotterdam Read-In – Girls will embark on 12 jam-packed hours of reading to raise literacy awareness and to gather donated books for their local libraries.
• PAWS (Pause) for a Cause – Girls are religiously hanging bags on local doors to collect animal supplies for donations to their local Animal Shelter.
• Bundles of Care – Girls are working with local businesses to prepare and deliver baskets filled with items for donation to needy families,
  children, and senior citizens.
• Comfort in a Time of Need – Girls are collecting old cell phones for
  donation to the “Stop Domestic Violence” Initiative, creating quilts to
  donate to local firehouses for gifts to families who have lost
  belongings in house fires and collecting cat food and litter for
  donation to the local feral cat program.
• Celebration of Music – Girls are organizing a used musical instrument
  collection to benefit their school district. A Music Festival will be
  held to celebrate the project’s collective efforts to increase the
  awareness of the visual and performing arts within the community.

For a complete list of projects take a look at our regional map.

Make Ends Meet – Mission Possible Project:

In our own Girl Scout Service Unit 133, based in North Greenbush, girls collaborated on a “Make Ends Meet” initiative to collect school supplies, birthday party supplies, and children’s books for the disadvantaged children who are served by Unity House of Troy, NY.

While Mission Possible is billed as a one weekend event; in reality, this celebration is just one element of a larger experience.

For our girls, Mission Possible originated with learning about hunger in our community.  Every year, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts learn about this issue while helping out at the Northeast Regional Food Bank of Northeastern NY.

This year, all the girls in our service unit also participated in a Hunger 101 Patch Program, where they discovered how volunteers are helping the working poor in our community who are finding it increasingly more difficult to provide meals and other necessities for their families in the midst of rising food and fuel costs.

So, when the girls were asked to come up with a Mission Possible project to address needs in their community, they agreed that they wanted to help the working poor with a “Make Ends Meet” Initiative.

However, finding a way to involve over 50 girls – in 7 troops of various age levels -  in the planning was a challenge.  It was decided that we would let each troop determine exactly how they would contribute to this project.

It was also a challenge to decide who would receive our help. 

Initially, we brainstormed lots of ideas for ways to help expand the Mt. Ida Community Food Pantry, but many of these ideas were beyond our time and budget constraints for this year. 

Instead, one of our adult leaders suggested the Unity House in Troy.

Unity House provides various programs to children in Rensselaer County including: early intervention and developmental services for pre-school children; assistance for children of families living in poverty; and also services for children displaced by domestic violence.

When the adult leader contacted Unity House, she was informed that we could really help them out by collecting books for the pre-school kids in the Early Intervention Program, as well as the older children in their other programs.  Also, these children needed school supplies and supplies for birthday parties.

With these clear needs, we were able to go back to our troops to ask the girls how they wanted to help.

One troop decided that they wanted to collect the birthday supplies and school supplies.  Another decided to put together packets of toiletries for the Mt. Ida Community Food Pantry.  And several troops decided to collect books with various book drives.

Sunshine Stories Read Aloud Event and Book Drive

My Cadette Troop of 6th Grade Girl Scouts decided to host a Read Aloud Event to collect books for the children in the Early Intervention Program.

At an overnight event, some of the girls came up with the idea for a Read Aloud event.  Then, over several meetings, they planned all the elements of this program.

• They decided to invite author and illustrator Sylvie Wickstrom to be a featured reader.
• Then, they met with Parker School Principal, Meg Taylor, to ask for permission to hold this event at the school.
• While GSNENY provided templates for a flyer and press release, the girls had to create and distribute their promotional material.  They succeeded in putting up flyers in several public venues, and their event even made it into the Times Union’s Community Almanac.
• Over several meetings, they planned out the details of the program.  When they were done, one of the girls created a professional-quality program guide that was handed out at the event.
• Another girl decorated a beautiful book drive box that can be reused for future book drives.
• Before the Read Aloud, they set up all the materials – including a wall-sized “shoe tree” and a lovely display of Girl Scout cookies.
• And all of the girls participated in the introductions, reading poems, leading the activities, and moderating the Read Aloud event.

The Read Aloud was a fantastic, totally girl-led event where the kids truly enjoyed the readings and imaginative activities – and the adults stood back and enjoyed the show.

Mission Possible Celebration

Even though the Read Aloud was over in an our, the celebration continued with a visit to Stewart’s for ice cream sundaes. 

Stewart’s was one of several local businesses that sponsored the Mission Possible Event with various donations – including the very popular coupons for ice cream sundaes and the fashionable Mission Possible T-shirts.

The T-shirts were such a hit that our girls also wore them to school on Monday.

Mission Possible Continues

For our Service Unit, the Mission Possible project is not over.  In a couple of weeks, we’ll be delivering the books, school supplies, and birthday supplies to Unity House.  My girls will also read aloud to the children in the Early Intervention Program.

However, I also suspect that Mission Possible will continue beyond this as all girls discovered ways that they can have a positive impact in their communities.  And, they practiced skills that will enable them to make positive change in their world.

Our Files:

Learning About Hunger:

Learning About Hunger - Find out about a Cub Scout Den visit to the Regional Food Pantry, includes resource links.

Hunger 101: It’s The Season To Be Merry and Hungry! – Girl Scout Service Unit Patch Program.

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Tagged as: community service, mission possible