Kitties saved; dumps shrunk; soldiers grateful: Five area Girl Scouts win gold for community projects
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Five Hampshire County Girl Scouts were given the organization's highest honor this year for service to the community, the Girl Scout Gold Award.
Fostering animal shelter kittens, establishing health center recycling programs and building a therapeutic riding trail are among the projects local girls completed to improve their communities.
Here are their stories:
Kristin Pisano
Before Kristin Pisano, 18, of South Hadley, got involved, the dental departments at Holyoke and Chicopee Health Centers were sending about 4,600 plastic containers a year to the landfill.
Pisano diverted those containers, and other reusable waste, from the dump this spring when she established recycling programs at the health centers.
Pisano said she was looking for a project that would help a large number of people. Since Chicopee and Holyoke Health Centers employ 250 people and annually serve about 20,000 patients, Pisano thought she could have a big impact.
When contacted by Pisano about the program, the center's directors told her they had been trying to start a recycling program for years, but there had been no one to administer it, she said.
To start up the recycling program, Pisano first wanted to get an idea of how many containers would be needed in the health centers to make recycling feasible. She sent out an employee survey on the quantity of paper, bottles and cans disposed of on a daily basis. From the survey results, Pisano said, she learned the centers were throwing away an "incredible number of plastics that (could) be recycled."
Today, through Pisano's work, there are recycling bins on every floor of each health center. The bins accept cardboard, bottles and cans for recycling. Maintenance workers empty the bins once a week. In the Chicopee Health Center, there are also bins for recycling paper. The center in Holyoke would like to initiate paper recycling in the future, Pisano said.
Once the program was in place, Pisano held a meeting with employees to explain recycling and answer questions. She also presented a slideshow that included information about the importance of recycling. To educate children who pass through the health center, she printed recycling-themed coloring pages and placed them in the waiting rooms.
"Anything is possible with determination and effort," Pisano said.
Hailey Andler
To Hailey Andler, 17, of Amherst, there seemed to be a lack of communication among administrators and students at Amherst Regional High School.
Not one to sit on the sidelines, Andler, who is now a senior at the high school, created a way to bridge that communication gap: the Student Advisory Board.
Made up of students, the board seeks to promote understanding among the administration, School Committee and students. The board is composed of two groups: a seven-person committee that meets monthly and a 30-person council, which convenes when there are pressing issues to be discussed.
To form the board, Andler got permission from Assistant Principal Miki Gromacki and created applications for board membership. Andler was expecting just a few people to apply. She was shocked when 32 students filed applications to sit on the committee.
The final seven committee members, which include Andler as the chair, were selected by Activities Coordinator Hanna Stevens and guidance councelors at the regional high school.
Andler said she found the strength to put the board together through dealing with her dyslexia. A lifetime of standing up for herself made it easier for her to stand up for the school's students, she said.
She understands the importance of helping "other people who have opinions, but don't know how to voice them," Andler said.
In its first year the board sought to tackle political issues affecting students. It ran an information campaign regarding a proposed Proposition 2½ tax override for Amherst, which voters approved in the spring. The board educated students on how they would be affected if the override passed or failed. Andler said members explained which teachers would not be around the following year and which elective classes would be cut if the override was rejected.
While most members of the board are too young to vote, Andler said it is still important for students to be politically aware. Students can have an impact through association, she said.
For example, when parents questioned their teens as to why the override was supposed to "Save Our Schools" - a slogan used in the run-up to the election - students would know why, and be able to articulate their support or opposition to the tax increase.
Andler said she plans to continue as board chair for the first month of school, then allow a junior student to take the position. She said the position should continue to be held by a junior student because they have been in the school long enough to understand how the school operates and are more likely to remain fully committed knowing that decisions made in the school system will affect them for another year.
"Supported by the students of our school, the principal and the regional school committee, the Student Advisory Board has been a great success," Andler said in a statement.xxxx
Danielle Sansoucy
For Danielle Sansoucy, 17, of Belchertown, it is hard to recall a time when she was not riding horses.
But it wasn't until 2006 that she learned her passion for riding could help others.
That year she began volunteering at Wild Barry Ridge Farm in Belchertown, where she was introduced to therapeutic riding, a horseback hobby with the purpose of benefiting riders with disabilities. Riding, therapeutic riding proponents say, can improve a person's balance, coordination, focus, independence and confidence as well as motor and social skills.
At the farm, Sansoucy built a "sensory trail" for therapeutic riding. Sensory trails consist of slopes, turns, varied footing, natural sights and sounds, as well as games along the path for riders to play. Sansoucy created the trail with the help of fellow Girl Scout and close friend Lindsay Jones in addition to other friends and family.
The first order of business was establishing the trail: clipping away small trees and branches, leaving use of the chain saw to her father.
The games were added next: a giant tic-tac-toe board that riders can manipulate by riding the horse up to it and obstacles such as pool noodles hanging from trees that brush the horse and its rider "like a car wash," Sansoucy said.
The games and obstacles are meant to provide mental and physical stimulation. And for some, the trail allows people to enjoy abilities they may not normally have.
In particular, Sansoucy recalled one girl with physical disabilities who rode the course. The girl used foam pads on the horse's back that allowed her to sit up and look in the direction she wanted the horse to go. The guide on the ground would then direct the horse in response to the movement of her head, giving the girl a sense of accomplishment in riding the horse.
"It was cool because you could see them improving," Sansoucy said. "You could see the change from beginning to end."
Lindsay Jones
Most people have heard about foster children, but how many know there is also a foster pet program?
At least the people who have met Lindsay Jones, 17, of Belchertown, know that the Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society in Leverett is seeking foster parents for dogs and cats.
Jones, who fostered an adult cat and her four kittens, used her experience to promote animal fostering by educating members of her community.
Dakin runs the foster program to provide more room in the shelters. Otherwise if there is overcrowding, animals with no care would have to be put down, Jones explained.
Jones already had two cats and a dog when she agreed to take in the five cats. She fostered owner for Isadora, an adult mixed breed cat, and her four kittens for close to two months.
She said the kittens, who for some time were still learning how to eat food, had to be fed much more frequently than her own cats.
But they grew up fast.
"They went from being helpless little fur-balls that slept all the time, to being bundles of energy that kept me up all night," Jones said.
After this experience, Jones decided to raise awareness about why animal foster homes are needed. During the Clapp Memorial Library book sale, she set up a display outside the library to inform people passing by about Dakin and animal fostering.
Jones estimates that she educated 40 people about animal fostering. While she cannot be sure if any of them will become foster pet sitters, "every one that does will make a big difference in the lives of some animals," she said.
Jessica Fortin
Jessica Fortin, 18, of Amherst, found the inspiration for her Girl Scout project within her own family.
Fortin worked with the organization AdoptaPlatoon.org to send care packages to soldiers in Afghanistan.
Her brother, Derek Fortin, 22, has been in the Army for four years and is currently serving in Iraq. Through sending care packages to her brother, Fortin learned how small contributions can make a huge difference to a soldier.
She made it a goal to send a care package to each soldier in a 30-person platoon of medics stationed in Afghanistan. Through AdoptaPlatoon.org, she received care package requests from the troops. She also received advice from her brother, during the time he was home for a break, on what to pack for the troops.
Fortin worked to get the community involved in her project. In schools and local businesses, she set up donation boxes and asked for help with shipping costs. She visited elementary schools and explained to students the value of patriotism and how giving back does not take much time.
Fortin's care packages included food, toiletries and games.
"I achieved my goal because my care packages will brighten the day of those soldiers and I feel that I fulfilled my duty as a citizen and as a family member of a deployed loved one," Fortin said in a statement.
