Pet project: Junior Girl Scouts aid local animal shelter
The Scouts, all fifth graders at Alcott Elementary School, recently completed the requirements for their Bronze Award.
Part of the Girl Scout promise recited at most scout gatherings is to “help other people at all times.” For Acton’s Junior Girl Scout Troop 70538, that help has extended to local pets waiting for their forever homes.
The Scouts, all fifth graders at Alcott Elementary School, recently completed the requirements for their Bronze Award, the highest award a junior Scout can earn.
Scout Julia Cardinal said after sitting together and brainstorming ideas — including picking up trash in the community — the girls voted to help animals in a local shelter.
“[They are] educating the community about the importance of pet adoption,” troop leader Melissa Schoenfeld said in an email to The Acton Bridge. “The Acton and Sudbury communities have an opportunity to adopt pets from local shelters, and our Girl Scouts want to make sure the community knows about this loving and kind option.”
Step by step
Schoenfeld said the planning began in January.
“It was their first experience with a multi-step project,” she said.
The first step was to contact the shelter. The girls chose Buddy Dog Humane Society in Sudbury, which matches potential pet parents with cats and dogs.
“We met some of the pets there,” Alya Desai said, “and then we found out what they needed.”
To raise money for these supplies, the Scouts participated in the community yard sale at Acton Recreation last month.
“We kind of collected all the items that we didn’t want from our houses,” Julia Daniel said. “We brought it all to the sale, and we just sold that.”
When life gives you lemons…
Along with their sale table, the girls sold homemade lemonade, donating supplies and labor.
“We had to squeeze the lemons, and put the sugar in, and bring it to sell it, so they [the customers] could get refreshments,” Kacey Chan said.
It also allowed the girls to share their goals with the community.
“At the lemonade stand, they told their customers from the Acton community about why they are enthusiastic about pet adoption,” Schoenfeld said.
The troop raised more than $300.
The girls shopped for “supplies and stuff,” said Ellie Thomas, “like collars for dogs and litter and cat food for cats.”
Sylvia Schoenfeld said they also donated supplies for the humans, such as “cleaning supplies, pencils, paper, and pens.”
And, of course, the girls brought the shelter workers some Girl Scout cookies.
All the scouts were introduced to the furry recipients — some when they initially chose Buddy Dog as their project’s focus, and others when they dropped off their donations.
“We got to meet all the cats and dogs,” Leila Belov said.
A Bronze like gold
On the way to the Bronze Award, girls work together to choose an issue in their community and develop a plan to improve it.
The project was pre-approved by the Girl Scout Council of Eastern Massachusetts. Now that it’s completed, Schoenfeld will order the Bronze Award pins and distribute them to the girls who were bridging from Juniors to Cadettes at the beginning of the month.
“We’ll have to have a special gathering,” she said.
