MILLSTONE – Five Girl Scouts from Millstone Township have earned the Silver Award in recognition of their efforts to help the community.
Ninth-graders Georgia Kuchar, Erica Layman, Maeve Muha, Alyssa Pugliese and Sophia Schindel of Girl Scout Troop 1098 were honored during a ceremony that was held on Nov. 30 at the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore, Howell.
Girl Scout leader Theresa Pugliese said the Silver Award is the highest award a Girl Scout Cadette can earn.
“Completing the award requires girls to identify an issue in their community that they feel deeply about and develop a project to meet the need,” Pugliese said. “The girls complete at least eight steps, from choosing a service project to seeing it through to completion, and must log at least 50 hours for their project.”
Erica, Maeve and Alyssa worked together on a project they called “Paws 4 a Cause” to spread awareness and aid for abandoned and homeless animals.
“Alyssa, Maeve, and Erica all stated that their love for animals and their desire to help them was an influence for choosing a project that would benefit abandoned and homeless animals,” Pugliese said.
According to Pugliese, Maeve coordinated four fundraising and donation drives to benefit Adopt-A-Pet, Erica created a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation providing statistics and information about abandoned and homeless animals and how they can be helped, and Alyssa created welcome bags and a brochure containing tips for families that adopt a pet.
For her project, “Mini-Comfort Library,” Georgia organized book donation drives and built a bookshelf to hold a mini-library for individuals in a waiting room at CentraState Medical Center, Freehold Township.
“Georgia felt she could make someone’s day a little bit brighter by creating a pastime for them,” Pugliese said.
Sophia’s project, “Social Buddies,” saw her organize and participate in outings in which teenagers with and without special needs were paired and took part in activities such as basketball, bowling and pizza dinners, according to Pugliese.
“The participants socialized and created memories in order to build relationships,” Pugliese said. “Sophia enjoys working with the special needs population.”
“I am very proud of all the girls for the research, planning, compassion and hard work they displayed in earning their Silver Award,” Pugliese said. “With a project of this magnitude, where the girls worked for over a year, there was the occasional disconnect, but I saw them shine and demonstrate leadership skills and tenacity to follow through on important things, while balancing their busy teenage lives with family obligations, school, sports and social time – a lesson in the reality of multitasking in life.”
