Troop 40214’s Silver Award project included planning and building two garden beds and planting food for rescued wildlife at the local Centre Wildlife Care rehabilitation facility to reduce the costs of food for the animals. Centre Wildlife Care is a nonprofit wildlife rescue facility that people turn to when they find injured wildlife. Having a source of fresh food for the animals helps defer the costs of operation.
The troop wanted to help animals in some way, and found that Centre Wildlife Care was an overlooked service to our community. After they made a visit to try to determine what need they might be able to help with, the girls decided to take action and help by building a garden to supplement the food supply that the rehabilitator had to provide. Centre Wildlife Care had to ask for donations for food and supplies for the animals, and the girls thought that having fresh foods available in the spring and summer would help ease those costs.
The girls took photos during the different steps to show the process and completion of different steps along the way. This made it easier for them to understand the progress of the steps, helping them stay organized and tell the story later. The girls also made a poster displaying their work and showed it to other Girl Scouts to inspire them to take action to help wildlife and nature.
The garden boxes, dirt and plants will last many years and give Centre Wildlife Care a variety of plants that they will take care of to feed the rescued animals. The girls planted several perennials, such as berries, that will come back each year without being replanted.
The girls realized early on that they could not work as a group of 9 and so divided into three teams so that everyone could have a bigger role. Every troop member used their own skills when planning for and constructing the garden, whether by means of asking for donations, picking the plants, measuring the layout, or making the garden and filling it with rich soil and fruits and vegetables. Everyone helped build the garden, which improved the troop’s teamwork and collaboration skills. Their parent helpers taught them how to draw our bed design and calculate our material needs, as well as teaching them how to use the tools and actually build the beds. The girls did most of the work themselves. The girls got contributions from local businesses of all of their materials.
Robyn Grabowski, of Centre Wildlife Care, was very impressed with their work and gave them a certificate of appreciation. She had only before imagined that Boy Scouts doing Eagle projects could help her with building things. The idea for the project was the troop’s own and they presented it to her for approval. She was surprised and impressed.
