Girl Scout Project Focused on FOLAS
Cranford Girl Scout Troop 40023
Cranford Girl Scouts Junior Troop 40023 has recently completed the prestigious Girl Scouts Bronze Award through a year-long project focusing on the welfare of animals.
The troop’s mission was to help make animals adoptable and to assist with the sheltering and fostering of pets. In so doing, the girl scouts set out by assisting one local shelter, the Friends of Linden Animal Shelter (FOLAS).
First, the girls designed a troop logo, using original artwork. The logo set the stage for bringing awareness to and educating the public on the importance of fostering a pet. The girl scouts created a pamphlet explaining the benefits of fostering an animal, and important considerations when becoming a foster pet parent, which was approved by the FOLAS.
The girl scouts quickly realized that bringing their ideas to fruition would come with some costs, such as printing their pamphlets, as well as providing a weatherproof mailbox/information center at FOLAS so that the public could easily access the pamphlet. After several discussions on fundraising, the girl scouts decided on holding a garage sale.
Troop 40023 Bronze Award Garage Sale was held at the Cranford Community Center on the day of the Cranford Town Wide Garage Sale, with 100% of the proceeds going toward their Bronze Award Project. The girls were able to raise $324. With the funds raised, the girls purchased, painted, and personalized an outdoor bench for the FOLAS to help make the property more welcoming and inviting. Additionally, the girls were able to purchase the supplies needed to make a weatherproof mailbox to be housed at the entrance to the animal shelter. The mailbox contains copies of the pamphlet the girls created.
The girls used a portion of the funds to make up 12 adoption kits to donate to the shelter. Each adoption kit included a litter box, scoop, collar, handmade pet toys, bowl, nail clipper, and a personalized thank you note to the adoptive parent. With the remaining funds the girl scouts designed and ordered weatherproof signs to be placed outside the grounds of the shelter, hoping to improve the visibility of the shelter and to increase foot traffic. Additionally, the girl scouts were able to replace the existing signs at the entrance to the shelter.
The group of six girl scouts from Troop 40023 came together in late July, 2022 to present their donations to FOLAS, and they spent 2 hours weeding and cleaning out the shelter’s outdoor dog pen to make the space safer for dogs to run and play.
Through their hard work and team approach, these girls learned to identify a need, put a plan into action and increase awareness on a very important issue, as well as inspire others to do the same. Collectively, the girl scouts of Troop 40023 contributed approximately 140 hours toward their Bronze Award Project.
Nancy Valdivia, Troop 40023 Girl Scout Leader, is most impressed by the girl scouts’ ingenuity and commitment to seeing this project through. “The girls were motivated and invested from the beginning through the very end, never losing sight of their ultimate goal. They created, designed, painted, assembled, organized, crafted, cleaned and carried the project through with such a sense of pride. They rose at every challenge of the project, and they worked beautifully as a team,” proudly beams their Troop Leader.
The efforts put forth by Amelia Cippoletti, Sara McCombs, Alana Pugliese, Eliza Rivera, Aurelia Samson, and Macy Valdivia under the mentorship of Mr. James McCombs, Girl Scout Troop parent volunteer, have not gone unnoticed. In the two weeks following the troop donations, seven cats have been placed in adoptive homes, and they were lovingly provided with the adoption kits that the scouts donated. Tina, a FOLAS staff member, is most appreciative of how Troop 40023 helped to make the shelter easier to find, more inviting, and a happier place for all to visit.
