By Renee Larr
Zionsville Girl Scout Troop 1817 was looking to create a legacy project to help the community. With a little brainstorming they came up with a plan to not only benefit other Girl Scouts but also the Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library.
“As the girls get older they can do different service level projects. You can do a service project or what we call a take action project, which means that the project becomes sustainable at some level beyond them,” Troop 1817 Leader Debbie Forbeck said.
The troop combed through Zionsville on foot to determine who they wanted to help.
“I literally had the girls walk around town. From there, we had a brainstorming session and they came up with different ideas of what to do,” Forbeck said. “They voted amongst themselves to see which project was most popular.”
The library was chosen. Scouts met with leaders at the library to determine their needs.
“One of their greatest needs was to have more volunteers and more people exposed to the library. That’s where the badge program evolved from,” Forbeck said. “It was a way to get more people involved in the library and have other Girl Scouts do a service project at the same time. When troops go to the library to find out about this badge, they’ll do a service project for their library in addition to being exposed to the various aspects of the library.”
Girl Scout troops sign up in advance with the library to attend a session. They learn how to utilize the library and do volunteer work. Past projects include cleaning toys and books.
“Once a Girl Scout completes the program, they’ll get a patch that our troop helped design with the library. We actually bought all the patches for the library, as well. We had an anonymous donor who donated the funds for us,” Forbeck said.
For more information or to sign up for a class, visit zionsvillelibrary.org.
