Gold Award Spotlight: Church of the Holy Family Prayer Garden

Girl Scout Ambassador Emily from Virginia Beach has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement a girl can earn in Girl Scouting.

For her project, Emily revitalized an area at Church of the Holy Family that was used to dump tree branches and extra dirt and turned it into a prayer garden. Emily began her project by reaching out to the Lynnhaven River Project to choose native plants and natural soil products to place in the garden. She then built wooden benches and planters and purchased a concrete statue of Mary that she sealed and placed in the garden.

“I knew that I wanted to do something at my church for my Gold Award project,” Emily said. “Previously there was no space for quiet contemplation on the church property, and I wanted to change that.”

After completing the garden, Emily met with Girl Scout Troop 442, which meets at the church, and arranged for the members to maintain the garden. She also invited members of the church community to attend a ceremony where Father Gaudencio Pugat blessed the garden.

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 Emily to an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor.