Whether you’re at school, in a club / organization or perhaps just looking for something to do, it seems we all do service. However, in doing service for others, we often have favorites that we enjoy doing. This badge features favorite service projects from a variety of Girl Scouts.
Steps
By Popular Demand
1. Collecting.
Collecting items for others seems to be a very popular service project. This came in from many people. Some items that have been collected include:
- Coats
- Shoes
- Mittens and scarves
- Food
- Pop-top tabs
- Books
- Toys
- Hygiene products
2. Holidays.
Many service projects revolve around the holidays. Understandably, most happen during the school year as that is when most Girl Scout troops are active. Some holiday favorite projects include:
- Serving hot meals
- Caroling
- Decorating
3. Making.
Girl Scouts love making / creating things. So, why not put it into our service projects? Some things our girls like include:
- Cookies
- Cards (holiday)
- Pet treats / toys
- Ornaments
- Decorate windows / walls
- Placemats / drawings
4. Outdoors.
Girls love doing special activities where they meet, whether it is a church, school or any other building. These activities include:
- Picking up trash
- Planting
- Weeding
- Decorating / painting
- Raking leaves
5. Organizations.
Looking for someone (or something) that needs a helping hand? Here are some of our favorites.
- Salvation Army
- Meals on Wheels
- Girl Scouts (troops, service unit, council)
- Ronald McDonald House
- Local food pantries
- Local nursing homes
- Local shelters
Specific Projects and Organizations
7. Bottles of Hope / Dawn
Decorate small glass bottles with polymer clay. The bottles symbolize a wish / hope for health. Check out the site and see if this is something that interests you.
8. Pocket Flag Project / Dawn
The goal behind this project is to get flags “into the pockets of our military personnel on the front lines.” Check out this project and see if you are interested.
9. Project Linus / rrethard
Project Linus encourages making homemade blankets for children. There are chapters nearly everywhere. You can find patterns and more on the site.
10. From Our Hearts / Cindy
This project features making handmade cards for soldiers to send to their family.
11. Monarch Waystation / Danice
www.monarchwatch.org/waystations
Install butterfly feeders as well as plant milkweed and other plants to attract butterflies. These waystations help support the migrating monarchs. Use an empty area in a camp, school, etc. Be sure to register as an official waystation.
12. Color-A-Smile / ecoimp
My multi-level troop (Daisies, Brownies, Juniors, Cadettes) has an on-going service project that we do when we have free time. It is Color-A-Smile where we color pictures. We typically send four packets a year just so we hit the seasons.
13. Dream Machines / Jill
Take recycled plastic bottles to dream machines (like vending machines) and part of the money helps fund veteran entrepreneurs.
14. PJ Party at Ronald McDonald House / silverleaf34
Pitch a tent in the middle of a common area with the patients, then do activities such as a scavenger hunt, crafts, snacks, sing songs, etc. Basically, use any activities that are normally done at camp and adapt for indoors. In addition, a sponsor donated new pajamas to the kids and handed them out at the party.
15. Birthday in a Bag / Cathie
In a bag, place cake and frosting mix, streamers, balloons, party favors, invitations, plates and napkins for a party of eight. Be sure to stick to a “boy” or “girl” version. Donate the bags to local shelters or food pantries for kids who wouldn’t normally be able to have a party.
16. Caroling for Cans / Laurie
Send out a flyer about the event before caroling. This gives anyone who wishes to participate an opportunity to get some non-perishable food items together. Sing holiday songs and collect the items to donate to your local food pantry.
17. Pie Making Day / kskingsford
Girls come in and bring a small can of pumpkin and a can of evaporated milk. Troops supply pie crusts and plastic bags. The service unit supplies the spices, sugar, vanilla, etc. Troops come in shifts and make Pumpkin Pie Kits (pumpkin pie is mixed and placed in plastic bag which goes into a frozen pie crust which is then placed into another plastic bag. Every year we make around 200 pies that get donated. They also decorate the ingredient/cooking instruction card that goes out with the kits.
18. Spring Clean-Up / ecoimp
My Daisy troop got together with some local master gardeners to complete a spring clean-up of a natural habitat site. The master gardeners taught the girls what to look for and do, and the girls had no clue that three hours had passed by when we called time to stop. This was done in conjunction with the Welcome to the Flower Garden journey.
A Bit More
19. Start a service unit tradition.
Doing a service project year after year allows girls to look forward to doing it. It also makes it easier on the service unit and organization you’re supporting, minimizing the time and effort needed to plan the project. Service units allow a larger number of girls to participate as well. Does your service unit have a service tradition? If not, discuss starting one that works with your community.
20. Pass it along.
Some service projects can be passed from troop to troop. Explore how you might pass a service project to another troop.
21. Do you have a special service project?
Feel free to share it for inclusion with this badge program or at your local meetings.
Sites to Explore
See sites listed in the steps above.
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