Rebecca Van Dyke, Priyanka Chodhari, Sheila Huang, and Amy Laresch of Troop #677 recently earned the Junior Leadership Award by helping Angel’s Wings, a community organization that provides temporary care for children up to 12 years old whose parents are unable to care for them. ##M:[more]## All rising fifth grade students, Rebecca, Amy, and Sheila go to Village School, and Priyanka goes to Millstone River School.
“When I read the article in your paper (The News, June 24, 2005) about Kelsey Townsend and her book collection, it really struck me that this is what I’m really supposed to be doing with my Junior Girl Scouts — helping them develop projects and take them on as their own,” said Louisa Ho, troop leader of Junior Girl Scout Troop 677.
“When I first heard about Angel’s Wings, I knew it would be a good organization for my Girl Scout troop to work with. The girls really love to help other children. They especially like sewing pillows to donate to other children. This is the third time the troop has made snuggle pillows and they still love doing it!”
Angel’s Wings provides full-time care for up to 12 children at a time. Most children stay for up to 30 days until they can be placed with relatives, family friends, or in foster care. In many cases, the children are placed at Angel’s Wings on an emergency basis and arrive with few, if any, personal possessions.
Led by Rebecca and Priyanka, the troop made and donated approximately 35 small snuggle pillows. Each pillow was accompanied by a new small stuffed animal.
To entertain the Angel’s Wings kids, Amy and Sheila organized the troop in making craft kits. The troop assembled and donated 10 kits to make flags and 10 kits to make paper butterflies. Each kit contains instructions, a sample, and supplies for six to eight kids.
“The kids especially enjoy having things made by other children,” said Wendy Kendrick, program director of Angel’s Wings. “It gives them a sense that other people care about them.”
Girl Scout Amy Laresch particularly liked “being able to spend time to make something for the kids.” Dina Laresch, Amy’s mother and also a Brownie Girl Scout Leader, was impressed by how “the girls really get a chance to develop their leadership skills on projects like these.”
The Junior Girl Scout Program emphasizes helping girls learn to lead, plan, and organize. In this instance, the girls selected their project, figured out the materials required, shopped for the materials, prepared the materials for the troop, planned and organized the troop activity, led the activity with their troop, and delivered the finished product to Angel’s Wings.
Angel’s Wings relies on more than 400 active volunteers for its programs. For information call Tannya Hemingway at 609-392-6100, ext. 101.
If you have a daughter interested in joining a West Windsor-Plainsboro Girl Scout troop, or if you are interested in leading a Girl Scout troop, call Pat Helck at 609-897-0529 or send an E-mail to girlscoutswwp@verizon.net.
