OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD

Our Girl Scouts never fail to overflow their generous hearts to bless others in need. This is our second year participating in Operation Christmas Child (OCC) as a troop service project. But when we really think about it, participating in OCC really goes beyond "service" for our girls. Operation Christmas Child is a mission to help fulfill their desire to help other other children and make the world a better place. OCC brings joy and the message of Christmas to children in 130 different countries who are in poverty situations.

For this troop meeting we began with our OCC project. The girls collectively brought items to donate to a variety of shoe boxes for boys and girls ranging in ages 2-14 years old. (see THIS POST for the details).

This year, we filled a total of 17 boxes!!! Here is the break down of what the girl filled~

Girl Boxes (12 total):
age 2-4 = Four (4) Boxes
age 5-9 = Two (2) Boxes
age 10-14= Six (6) Boxes

Boy Boxes (5 total):
age 2-4 = One (1) Box
age 5-9 = Two (2) Boxes
age 10-14 = Two (2) Boxes

THANK YOU PARENT AND LEADER VOLUNTEERS!!! You're help was HUGE!
~Lisa ~Novia ~Kristi ~Tammy ~Noemi ~Mandy ~Holly ~Stephanie ~Irma ~Rae Marie ~Jessica

And, THANK YOU, NOEMI for bringing the SNACK and DRINK this week!

Getting everything fit into the boxes was like putting a puzzle together!


...each item placed in the boxes with love...

Once the girls got the boxes filled by gender and age, the group gathered around the table of gifts in a circle, held hands hands with each other, while an adult led the girls in a word of prayer over the boxes~

"Thank you God for this opportunity to help make a difference in the lives of other children all over the world and help make the world a better place!

Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ… it’s a time to honor His birthday. And as we all know, when it’s someone’s “Birthday”, it is a tradition to give them gifts. Today we come together as a Girl Scout troop to give Jesus a birthday gift. We are participating in Operation Christmas Child to give these gifts with joy, love, and a spirit of goodness. The children receiving these gifts, are receiving them in honor of Christmas, Jesus’ Birthday. When Jesus was alive, He told his friends “when you give to the poor, give to the hungry, give to people in need, it’s the same as giving to me” (paraphrased from Matthew 25:40) May each gift we send be a blessing to each child receiving them and may these little ones who receive these gifts experience the true spirit of Christmas this year and always! May God bless them and their families. In Jesus’ name we pray… AND EVERY ONE SAY~ AMEN.”

Troop #9691,

YOU ROCK!!!

Since she missed the troop meeting, leader, Teri, double checked the boxes at her house to make sure all the soap bars and hard candy were placed in individual zip-lock bags before we turned them in to OCC.

The Daisy girls made cards at a previous troop meeting for the children (only two examples are shown)

...and a picture of the troop (above) was also included.

Labels were printed with a bar code for tracking; they were secured with shipping tape on each of the 17 boxes.

Sometime in the month of January, we will find out what countries our 17 boxes were sent to.

When I phoned OCC to inquire about how we properly "follow our boxes"(because last year we never found out where they went), the lady I talked to was real sweet. She was able to look it up and I was informed that last year, ALL 10 of our boxes were sent to Mexico and blessed children in our neighboring country~ apparently an email was probably sent, and I now suspect it ended up in my spam folder. This year I'll watch for the email since I know to expect it!

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/Mexico/

Thank you Girl Scout families for your support with this project!

The girls are learning some important life lessons through OCC project! Ask your Girl Scout what they learned. Let them know how proud you are of them for their commitment to making the world a better place in all they do through Girl Scouts.

Operation Christmas Child~ Troop Service Project

Last year our troop participated in Operation Christmas Child (OCC) for the first time. The girls' hearts were positively touched by this project as they thought about the different children that would be receiving the Christmas gift boxes they prepared. (Check out THIS BLOG POST for last year's OCC project)

When we began this year's troop goal setting in July, almost every returning Girl Scout remarked they would like to participate in Operation Christmas Child again. We learned a lot from our first time participating last year and hope to actually get the "tracking" (done right this year) for each package we send. We will also include a picture of the Girl Scout Troop with a special note to the child receiving the gift.

Please take time to view the short videos at the end of this post with your Girl Scout to get an idea what type of items to help your Girl Scout purchase (you may also refer to the information sheet your Girl Scout brought home from the meeting). The below videos will also help you know what we'll be doing at our next troop meeting mid-month (prior to awards) to earn our "Operation Christmas Child 2010" Patch. (below)

WHAT YOUR GIRL SCOUT NEEDS TO DO:

• Choose 2-5 items appropriate for the gender and age of the child your daughter drew from the basket at the troop meeting (ex: BOY 2-4 years old).
• Purchase your gift items in the next couple weeks. The Dollar Store is a great place to find fun, affordable gifts. WE ARE NOT ASKING YOU TO FILL AN ENTIRE BOX... JUST BRING A FEW ITEMS TO DONATE.
• Bring gift items to next troop meeting mid-month.

That's all~ easy as that! As a troop, we will do the rest. The girls will COLLECTIVELY COMBINE their items in shoe boxes to fill a gift box for the gender and age group designated. Our goal is to fill at least one box per gender and age category. GIRLS age groups 2-4, 5-9, and 10-14; BOYS age groups 2-4, 5-9, and 10-14.

If you have any questions about Operation Christmas Child, feel free to contact Troop leader Teri. You may also visit The Samaritans Purse website for more information.

Garden Project Complete!

The fruit of the girls labor from the past several months...

Junior Girl Scouts getting the bench moved from the back of leader Teri's van...

Brownie Girls take the next leg of getting the bench to it's location...

Daisy Girls make their move to set the bench in it's final resting place.


The stepping stones and bench were the girl's idea. They earned almost $1,000. profit on this year's Girl Scout Cookie Sales and wanted to use part of their proceeds to create a special garden in memory of our Superintendent, Mr. McMath, who changed addresses from earth to heaven in December 2009. This garden space is the girl's way to say "thank you" to Mr. McMath as well to honor all who are a part of the London family.


We sprinkled "forget-me-not" seeds around the bench in honor of Mr. McMath.

LONDON
GIRL SCOUTS ROCK!!!

Garden Project Update~

What a wonderful day to work on our Garden Project! The girls showed up with enthusiasm and energy as the first task was to take the stepping stones we made (three weeks ago) out of the molds. What beautiful, creative work the girls did in the stepping stones! ...they will be a nice focal point to the garden.

Next, our task was to remove some newly laid sod. The school had recently installed a sprinkler system on the side of the school that our garden project is on. We knew the plan was to lay sod, but thought we would have our garden area down before the sod. Since the weather and mud kept us from our project, the sod guys got to their sod before we got to our garden, and laid right over the top of our location (they didn't know to leave it open). That's OK, the girls put on their gloves and began to work, work, work- relocating sod!

In the process of lifting the sod, the girls discovered a habitat of BUGS!

And, just like girls, some giggled, some screamed and some wanted the bugs as new pets.

Because we have such a large troop and a small garden area not meant for 24+ people to work in, we took turns making a "side walk chalk garden" as an additional activity.

The girls began to dig some holes for the shrubs...

The girls worked hard and we are very proud of them. The Junior Girl Scouts will work this week to get this project to a place of being ready for the whole troop to place the bench in it's place of honor (center focal point) at our next troop meeting. We will also sprinkle some "Forget-me-not" seeds around the back side of the bench in hopes they root and bloom, in memory of Mr. McMath.

Garden Project~ Planter Style!

Over the past number of weeks our troop has been working on the topic of our Garden Project. So far, we not yet even got into our garden space! Mostly side tracked because of rainy weather, but still moving forward, none the less. We wanted to be complete by now, but have enjoyed the distractions. We have all our materials, minus the plants and are ready to go (next week- FOR SURE!)

At any rate, no worries. The troop meeting last month we were going to get going on our garden area with preparation and planting, it was raining so we planted flowers in the school planters located at the two entrances instead... SIX PLANTERS in all!

The girls did a wonderful job! We definately have some "green thumbs" in our troop! Each Girl Scout parent should be very proud of their girl, making a difference in beautifying the school by filling the planters with pretty flowers.

The flowers, potting soil, and mulch were all purchased with money the girls earned through their 2010 cookie sales profits.

London Girl Scouts ROCK!

Garden Project Preparation

This week's troop meeting was all about our Garden Project Kickoff! With Cookie Season coming to a close, we used this meeting to begin planning and preparation for our upcoming garden project. About half of the funds the girls raised from this year's cookie sales will go towards a school garden next to the carpool lane dedicated to our Superintendent, Mr McMath, who recently passed away in December 2009. This garden will be approximately 15-20 feet long and 10-15 feet deep. It will be a free flowing shape, floating in an open area offset the sidewalk area that is currently dirt and over run by weeds. Our hope is to add beautification to the school grounds for all to enjoy on a daily basis. As well as be a reminder of how much Mr. McMath added positive influence to our lives.

After snack time and opening the meeting with the Girl Scout Promise, we played a game. The girls were given 5 minutes to go around the room and collect as many pictures as they could find. The pictures were hidden all over the room and were a variety of garden pictures. The goal was to familiarize themselves with the variety of items we would be working with as we do our project.

Once the girls found the pictures we discussed what each item was, why we used it, or why was it important. Items discussed were...

a rake
a shovel
dirt/compost
garden gloves
flowers
daisies
mulch
edging
a garden hose
earth worms
lady bugs
stepping stones
and a park bench

The park bench is going to be the responsibility of our Junior level of Girl Scouts. Under the supervision of leader, Stephanie, the Juniors will be given a budget of $200.00 to purchase a park bench and possibly have a small plaque made for the bench in honor of Mr. McMath. The girls have until April 5 to purchase the bench and have it at the garden location. The park bench will be a one of the focal points to our garden.

Leading to the park bench will be stepping stones made by each Girl Scout. Like a builder draws his plans for a new building project, so the girls drew their ideas for their stepping stone project. Each girl was given a blank sheet of paper (or two or three if they needed) and were shown some samples of pictures of a variety of stepping stones created by other people. These pictures gave them a visual idea of what stepping stones look like and inspiration for their own creation. (click here to see some of the pictures)

The pictures the girls drew were collected and will help us buy all the supplies needed for each stepping stone. The girls may also collect items from around their house (shells, rocks, etc.) or purchase their own embellishments to put on their stone if they choose to do so.

For those Girl Scouts who were not at this troop meeting, feel free to draw a picture and send it in to me through Jessie's homework folder. If you are unable to get a picture to me, don't worry!... we'll have plenty of embellishments for your Girl Scout to create a beautiful stepping stone.

Next troop meeting we will be creating our stepping stones!

All supplies for this project will be provided.

World Thinking Day 2010

... "together we can end extreme poverty and hunger" is the theme of this year's World Thinking Day 2010. Girl Scout Troop 9691 made "Blessing Boxes" at our last troop meeting to take home for their World Thinking Day project. We asked our Girl Scout families to give up “a treat” of some sort each day and save $1.00 a day for two weeks in their “blessing box” OR to collect “loose CHANGE” over the next two week period to help make a positive “CHANGE”. All donated money from this project will be sent to UNICEF (Children’s Emergency Fund in Haiti) to help make a difference in their extreme poverty and hunger situation.

The girls brought their boxes to this week's meeting and we collectively combined all amounts collected in the middle of the table where each Girl Scout level was sitting and participated in counting the loose change. The Daisy girls counted their collected amount together, the Brownie girls counted theirs, and the Junior girls counted their amounts.

All our girls have big generous hearts and we as parents should be very proud of each one of them for their efforts on this service project.

An inspiration~ Daisy Girl Scout, Allyson B. (in Kindergarden), actually went into her neighborhood over the two weeks we were doing our project and earned her Blessing Box donation by feeding neighbors' pets for them. Allyson earned just over $7.00 and her parents matched her amount to reward her for her hard work and to help a good cause. What a blessing you are, Allyson... ALL OUR GIRLS did a great job and ARE such BLESSINGS!!!

In a combined effort, we collected a total of $285.18!!!

(this amount updated March 16, 2010)

The girls earned their World Thinking Day 2010 Patch for all their work, but more importantly, the girls made a difference in others' lives.

Is there any other inspirational stories about how this World Thinking Day project effected your Girl Scout? Feel free to leave your comment and share with us!