Watchung Troop 65065 Junior Girl Scouts Earn Bronze Award
Submitted by: Bonnie Brunskill
Six (6) fifth grade Junior Girl Scouts in Watchung Troop 65065 earned the Bronze Award, the highest award possible for Junior Girl Scouts. The girls first completed the Girl Scout “aMUSE” journey activities that taught them about learning the variety of roles they play in their community and recognizing and fighting stereotypes around them. Then, the girls learned about a need at ProCure Proton Therapy Center in Somerset that they were excited to fulfill. The center works with the national Beads of Courage charity program for their pediatric patients. Stephanie Hunsinger, Patient Services and Advocacy Manager at ProCure, informed the our Troop 65065 that the center was in dire need of fabric bags to hold the glass beads the patients earn with each medical treatment milestone they reach. Each girl logged over 20 hours designing and creating unique bead bags to benefit the patients. The project was a great challenge, as most of the girls had never used a sewing machine before this project. The girls took a sewing class at Fabricland to learn the basics and then together they made over 60 beautiful fully lined drawstring bags. The girls also decorated cards with words of encouragement and personal messages to go into each bag. The girls enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment and pride that goes with learning new skills, supporting each other as a team of sisters and knowing that they fulfilled a need in the community. The troop would like to thank Stephanie Hunsinger for teaching them about the program and Beth Mattiassi for donating some fabric and for supplying the troop with an extra sewing machine to use during the project. The troop would like the community to know that they can learn more about the Beads of Courage charity program by visiting www.beadsofcourage.org
(above) The girls presented the finished bags to Stephanie (l-r): Tess, Nicole, Alyssa, Casidi, Stephanie and Lillian, Not pictured: Kaysen.
