girl scouts of the colonial coast
Girl Scout Ambassador Lauren from Virginia Beach has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement in Girl Scouting.
For her project, Lauren created a raised vegetable garden for the PIN (People in Need) Ministry, which serves homeless people in Virginia Beach. Lauren recognized that oftentimes meals that are served to homeless people contain fatty, carbohydrate-filled foods and do not include fresh vegetables. Lauren built this garden so that PIN could serve salads at no cost and homeless people could have access to fresh and nutritious foods. She also decided to place the garden in a mobile home park and make the vegetables available to residents there as well.
“I chose this project because I think healthy eating is very important, and I wanted homeless people in Virginia Beach to be able to eat healthy too,” Lauren said. “I have enjoyed volunteering with PIN in the past, and I wanted to work with them to create something that will help those in the community who are less fortunate.”
In order to ensure that her garden will continue to have a positive impact on the community, Lauren organized the Green Team Club at Princess Anne High School to be responsible for renewing the soil and planting seeds twice a year.
The Gold Award requires girls to identify an issue in their community and carry out a Take Action project to address the matter through leadership work. Nationwide, less than 6 percent of eligible Girl Scouts earn the Gold Award, which adds Lauren to an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor.
