girl scouts of the colonial coast
For her project, Olivia wanted to address the often unmet needs of foster children, such as having comfort items when moving to a new home. She focused her efforts on educating the community by distributing informational fliers and brochures at community events and locations and holding donation drives for her “first day of care” bags, where she collected toiletries and other personal items for children. The bag full of items give children comfort during early stages of foster case.
“I plan to be a social worker in the future,” Olivia said. “I wanted to show people how the needs of foster children are important to me and show the different ways we can all help.”
Olivia was able to create a website with information on her project that links to the website of Connect With a Wish, a new organization that helps foster children. The organization has agreed to carry on Olivia’s project by creating and giving “first day of care” bags to children they serve now and in the future.
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 six percent of eligible Girl Scouts earn the Gold Award, which adds Olivia to an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor.
