Lauren Kullmann, a freshman at High School South; and Rebecca Van Dyke, an eighth grade student at Grover Middle School, have earned the Girl Scout Silver Award, the highest award that Cadette Girl Scouts can earn. Longtime scouts, they are both members of Troop 70677. To earn the award, scouts need to complete four interest projects, complete two prerequisite programs, explore careers, and perform 15 hours of leadership activities – before completing a 40-hour community service project.
For their project, the duo chose to bake birthday cakes for the clients of the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK) and baked 10 to15 small birthday cakes a month beginning last May, for a total of more than 100 cakes so far.
Once they started, even after they completed the 40 hours required for the project, they kept on going, says their leader, Louisa Ho, who is also Van Dyke’s mother. “It just didn’t seem fair for only some TASK clients to get birthday cakes.” To keep the project going, they have enlisted the assistance of area Junior Girl Scout troops who are working on their bronze award projects. With their assistance, it looks like the project will continue at least through June.
Kullman and Van Dyke chose this project after being a part of a birthday celebration at TASK in the summer of 2005, during their volunteer time in the kid’s room. “There were very few kids at TASK that day, so they made the best of the situation and made crafts for and with the adults,” says Ho. “TASK had a program where they give birthday cakes (donated by stores) to clients enrolled in their classes. One woman was given her cake that day. Lauren and Rebecca and a friend of the woman helped her celebrate her birthday, by singing Happy Birthday, sharing her cake, and making her crafts. Rebecca described it as a happy-sad moment. When contemplating possible silver award service projects, both girls jumped at the notion of making birthday cakes for all soup kitchen clients, because that moment in 2005 had really resonated with them.”
While most of the clients of TASK are adults, some children use TASK’s services. “I especially liked it when a kid got one of our birthday cakes, because it was probably the only cake they were getting,” says Kullmann, whose signature cake designs feature avant garde designs on a birthday tree.
“The best parts of this project were working together, and tasting the cakes and frosting, frequently,” says Van Dyke, whose cake designs feature a sun with yellow and orange sunbeams radiating across a chocolate cake.
“This program is very popular with the clients,” says Mary Ann Dobson, TASK volunteer coordinator. “Many of the clients take the cakes with them and use them in small birthday celebrations with their families.” For volunteer opportunities call TASK at 609-695-5456 or visit their web site www.trentonsoupkitchen.org.
“When the girls started, it looked like their program would only last for a few months,” says Ho. “I’m so impressed with the girls’ commitment to continue the program. At this point, I’ve delivered cakes to TASK enough times that the staff now knows me as the cake lady. Girl Scouts provides girls with such wonderful opportunities and experiences. I’ve glad that my daughter is a scout and that I’ve been able to be her leader.”
For information on Girl Scouts, contact Ho at 609-371-2119 or send an E-mail to girlscoutswwp@verizon.net.
