Girl Scout Troop 2406  just completed their Bronze Award. They held a Bingo Night at the Orchard Park Assisted Living and held a blanket drive to donate to needy seniors!

The Troop was established in the fall of 2010 with Brownie and Junior Girl Scouts, and just began its third year with Daisy, Brownie, Junior and Cadette Girl Scouts. During the first year the Troop’s leader, Valerie Kessler, wanted to connect the girls to the community. So she contacted Orchard Park Assisted Living (OAL) to see if they would be open to having the girls visit the seniors on a few occasions. The OAL Activity Director, Cheryl Ranzau (a Girl Scout Alum!), was very excited about this partnership. So, in October the girls visited during the Halloween season and then again in December to sing Christmas Carols and present gifts to the seniors. They did so again the second year.

Since the girls already had this connection, they thought it would be nice to work on their Bronze Award Project at OAL. After brainstorming, the girls and the Troop decided to go forward with a Bingo Night, inviting other Girl Scouts from their Service Unit 25 to attend. And since it was the 100th anniversary of Girl Scouts, they wanted to work this in too. So, they honored OAL senior women who had been Girl Scouts (Valerie presented them with Girl Scout 100th anniversary pins that evening) and set a goal to collect 100 blankets for needy seniors (and they had the goal) from attendees and had fun playing Bingo.