Need ideas for community service project for Girl Scouts

[Psychodisney]

My DD10's Girl Scout troop needs ideas for a major community service project. It needs to involve planning and execution. They already help at our local PADS shelter, food pantry, blanket drives etc. Any ideas? Thanks!

 

[disneyslp]

Cleaning yards, houses, etc for the elderly in the community? The youth at our church does this every spring and fall.

 

[figment52]

Conkerrcancer is always looking for volunteers and there are several jobs the girls can do no matter what their age or experience.

 

[pumba]

When my mom and MIL were in nursing homes and assisted living homes......the GS's would come and do activities according to the groups ability.....like the assisted living would do more and the nursing home was more geared for mobility and ability......it was good for both the girls and the elderly they gave their time to

 

[kidzmom3]

If I understand correctly, they need to devise and execute a community service project? If it must be something not already in place here are a few that our girls came up with:

- food baskets for the holidays. Food banks have very specific rules about how much food each person is entitled too. These food baskets (think the type you can buy at christmas) are not included in the rules. So they would need to organize donation collection, basket making and then delivery.

- park clean up- organized the volunteers, coordinate the equipment, clean up a local park.

- soliders collection - arrange for donations to pay for postage, collect donations for soldiers ( wipes, dry goods, books, cards, phone cards, etc...)
package and ship

- community services - look for and collect volunteers. find people in need of small jobs around their home (outside is best) rake leaves, clean yards, shovel walkways, help carry in groceries to families in need.

 

[dejr_8]

If I understand correctly, they need to devise and execute a community service project? If it must be something not already in place here are a few that our girls came up with:

- food baskets for the holidays. Food banks have very specific rules about how much food each person is entitled too. These food baskets (think the type you can buy at christmas) are not included in the rules. So they would need to organize donation collection, basket making and then delivery.

- park clean up- organized the volunteers, coordinate the equipment, clean up a local park.

- soliders collection - arrange for donations to pay for postage, collect donations for soldiers ( wipes, dry goods, books, cards, phone cards, etc...)
package and ship

- community services - look for and collect volunteers. find people in need of small jobs around their home (outside is best) rake leaves, clean yards, shovel walkways, help carry in groceries to families in need.

This was going to be my suggestion as well.

 

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

assist at a MAW office?

 

[dakcp2001]

My df work does a project where we make "warm" baskets for the elderly, they go to elderly that have low income home heating assistance. We fill each basket with nice warm bathrobes, slippers, socks, scarf, hat, gloves, a throw and warm flannet sheets or a nice blanket. I am not sure how they get the list, but they get a list of people and their sizes. We usually throw in some tea, hot choc, and coffee packets too. I guess in my area they learned that a lot of the elderly were keeping the thermostat down.


I think anything helping the elderly would be rewarding for the girls! Maybe visit a senior center and serve lunch?

ANother fun idea might be doing the "Give a Day Get a Day" thing, and donating the tickets, that is one of the options.

 

[GreatDaneMom]

At work I pretty regularly get calls from kid's parents looking for Eagle Scout, etc projects that relate to water quality. Some of the kids have done public education about storm drains and the impacts of dunping into them, small scale water quality testing in the lakes and waterways that the drains discharge into, litter & debris cleanups to improve water quality, etc. If interested you can probaly call your city public works department and find someone there who can give you more info. Ask for the people who handle water quality and drainage.

 

[Anne34]

My DD10's Girl Scout troop needs ideas for a major community service project. It needs to involve planning and execution. They already help at our local PADS shelter, food pantry, blanket drives etc. Any ideas? Thanks!

Since you're in IL -- look in the North Star book (or online). We have done the Valentine project for the nursing homes. You make Valentine's, tray liners, etc. for the people who wouldn't get things otherwise. My girls always had fun making valentine's. We bought lots of construction paper, had stamps, stickers, markers, etc...and let their imaginations go wild. We dropped them off at our regional council office and they delivered them to the home. If they don't offer it, you could call a local nursing home, I'm sure they would love them! (We have also done them for the VA hospital since one of our moms worked there)

If that doesn't work, the North Star always lists things that the council is collecting for. We have done book drives, pads, food pantry, etc also. I miss it, this is my first time not leading a troop in 10 years!

 

[HERSEY]

Feed my starving child is always looking for people and groups

http://www.fmsc.org/Page.aspx?pid=398

It is different than working in a food pantry

 

[Psychodisney]

Thanks everybody! Keep em coming!

 

[Art 1]

Put a play on for the local old folks home.

 

[minniebeth]

I LOVE the ideas of visiting/assisting and doing things for assisted living and nursing homes, the kids are always so well received and loved. Unfortunately, with H1N1, so many facilities are limiting visits, especially from younger visitors, so groups are trying to find other ways of cheering the elderly and/or diabled up. Cards, posters, decorated flower pots/flowers, cookies are all well received. A lot of the homes like magazines. One of the GS troops in my DD's school organized a magazine drive through our school and church (they are affiliated) and then delivered them to assisted living/nursing and rehab facilities.

A book drive for a local hospital is great, and a huge ongoing need by us is meals for The Ronald McDonald House. Groups can go in and provide and prepare a planned meal for the amount your local home needs/suggests. We have a large Children's Hospital in Columbus so The Ronald McDonald House is a large one and has to feed great numbers. You must prepare the food there though. We've gotten together with other troops to provide the food and prepare the meals there. The girls even got to meet some of the families and heard first hand of the need and the appreciation of the families that stay there. It is a very rewarding experience for the girls, and a meaningful one for my DD as we have used The Ronald McDonald House ourselves when DD was young.

One more suggestion:
www.spreadthebread.org

Good Luck with finding something that will fit with your group!

 

[amberg@eastlink.ca]

i suggest packages for the troops as well. i have done this the past three years with my sparks/brownie unit here in canada. its always gone over well. altho i did mine a little different i just had the girls bring in the donations- 2 itmes per girl- no aerosols. and i had them sent to soldiers from hubbys unit serving in afghanistan.

but that being said theres no reason the girls couldnt put theri spin on it and organize it themselves. its a big job. but many hands make light work. our last pack got there just in time for xmas eve!

it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. we had ladies from our military family resource centre come in and talk about morale and where they were going. im sure theres something down there that is an organization like we have. even if you had a military member come in and help out.

i've had local tv come in and get in on it, donations from wally hole, and a local member of parliment came in to donate a nova scotia flag. its a great community event really.

 

[McKelly]

We once did a book drive and donated them to the local Head Start. The girls went in and read books to the young kids for awhile and then left the books there for the kids to take home, since most of them are low income. It was easy to come up with the books because the girls were past the age of the "early childhood" books and with a troop of twenty girls they donated over 200 books of their own.

Also, one year during Girl Scout Birthday time (I think that is coming up - can't remember), we made "birthday boxes". We collected birthday plates, napkins, balloons, small toys, a cake mix, frosting, etc. and of course, some Girl Scout cookies and arranged them in the tops of copy paper boxes. We then used the plastic that people use to cover their windows in the winter and shrank wrap the "birthday boxes". We donated them to the food pantry for parents to pick up when their child had a birthday.

 

[minniebeth]

I think this is a really great idea!

 

[Psychodisney]

Great ideas. The girls have a meeting tomorrow to discuss their options. These are some great ides to get them going!