Girl Scouts in Westborough

FIFTH ANNUAL WESTBOROUGH COMMUNITY FOOD DRIVE

The Westborough Girl Scouts are proud to sponsor the fifth annual Westborough Community Food Drive on May 7th.  This annual spring food drive offers an opportunity to support the Westborough Food Pantry.  The food pantry serves over 65 families weekly. 

Food and monetary donations may be dropped off from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Tufts Machine Lot on East Main Street.  Current items needed are cookies, crackers, toiletry items, granola bars, cake mix, brownie mix, bread mix, meals in a can, juices (no glass), clam chowder, evaporated milk, condiments, paper towels, toilet paper and salad dressing.  In addition, checks payable to Westborough Food Pantry and gift cards for Stop and Shop and Roche Brothers are welcome as well.

The Westborough Food Pantry web site is www.westboroughfoodpantry.org. In addition food donations may be dropped off year long at the fire station on Grove Street.  The Westborough Girl Scouts serves three hundred thirty girls in grades kindergarten to twelfth grade. Fall registration for new girls will be held in September.

The cafeteria at Mill Pond Intermediate School in Westborough is going without trays this November. It will be the first school in the district to launch "Trayless Tuesday." Instead of trays, students will use paper boats for their lunches.

From left to right:  Claudette Barrett, Director of Dining Services, Katie Foley, Katie May Howarth, Emma Martin, Vivian Pang, Marisa Papagelis, Megan Donaty and Nancy Byczkowski, Mill Pond Food Supervisor. Girls are members of Westborough Girl Scout troop 30859

Six members of Westborough Girl Scout troop 30859 are the force behind this change. (See related article here.)  In working on their Bronze Award they have been informing the students and the community about the hazards of Styrofoam. It takes millions of year for the Styrofoam to disintegrate. This elimination of Styrofoam in school lunches is spreading across America.

Informational book marks for the community are available at the Westborough public library children's room, the Mill Pond Intermediate School's library and through the Friends of the Westborough Library book sales. Attendees at the recent town meeting received a copy of the tri fold brochure with valuable information.

Styrofoam trays are used for school lunches at the district's schools. Starting November 2nd Mill Pond will not use the Styrofoam trays. Instead students purchasing lunch will receive their meal in a paper boat. The school uses approximately 7,000 Styrofoam trays monthly. This will save an average of 1,400 Styrofoam trays a month from going to the landfill. The program will run for every Tuesday in November at Mill Pond.

In working with Chartwell's Claudette Barrett, Director of Dining Services, the girls will be present during lunch to discuss the change with students. After one month the school administration will decide on the future of the program at Mill Pond and other schools.

Members of Westborough Girl Scout troop 30859 recently met with Irene Hatherley, principal of Mill Pond School, to discuss the school's use of Styrofoam trays.

The girls are working on their Bronze Award for Junior Girl Scouts. It is the highest award for fourth and fifth graders. It shows a girl has made a promise to help others, improve her community and world, and become the best she can be.

The girls are planning to inform the community about the hazards of Styrofoam and the reduction of it in the school system. A tri fold educational brochure will be distributed to community locations over the next few weeks. They are hopeful to have a presence at the October town meeting and talk with attendees.

For information on joining the Westborough Girl Scouts call Judy at 508-870-1895.

Pictured left-to-right are: Katie May Howarth, Emma Martin, Megan Donaty, Marisa Papagelis and Irene Hatherley, principal of Mill Pond School

WESTBOROUGH GIRL SCOUT OPEN REGISTRATION

The Westborough Girl Scouts will have open registration on Sunday, September 12. It will be held at 6 p.m. at the Evangelical Congregational Church, West Main Street.

This information session is for parents and guardians only.

Registration fee is twelve dollars for girls and adults. Troop placement is dependent on available leadership. Adult volunteers will be registered that evening as well.

Westborough Girl Scouts has over three hundred girls in twenty-nine troops for all grades. Girls can be involved in many different new Pathways in the new programming model. Troops meet twice monthly and participate in service unit activities. Volunteer training is available through the Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts.

For information call Judy Wilchynski, Service Unit Manager, at 508-870-1895

Hannah O'Keeffe, Girl Guide from Barnes, London, England, visited family recently in Westborough. Her vacation spanned Memorial Day weekend. As a result, Hannah was invited to march with the Westborough Girl Scouts in the 2010 annual Memorial Day parade. Her cousins, Sophie Eisenthal  and Madeleine Eisenthal (Brownie and Daisy Girl Scouts, respectively) were thrilled to have their cousin participate in a service unit event, and all of the girls helped carry flags during the parade.

Hannah's Girl Guide level in London is the 7th Barnes Brownie Pack. The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) is comprised of 145 member organizations, including Girl Scouts of the USA. WAGGGS not only unites all of its member organizations, but also promotes and establishes Girl Guiding/Girl Scouting organizations around the world.

The goal of WAGGGS is to enable girls and young women to develop their fullest potential as responsible citizens of the world. In 2012 the Girl Scouts of USA will celebrate their one hundredth anniversary with activities planned over all the council. For information on Westborough Girl Scouts please call Judy at 508-870-1895.

Pictured left to right: Sophie Eisenthal, Madeleine Eisenthal, Hannah O'Keeff

In about a month, over one hundred children from New York City will visit with families in the area.  The Fresh Air Fund children will visit for one to two weeks and explore the area.  When they get off the bus to meet their host families,each child will be given a gift.  Nicole Ransden and Bridget Owen, Cadette Girl Scouts from Northboro, will have a backpack for each child filled with school supplies.  The girls are working on the project as part of their Girl Scout Silver Award.

The Girl Scout Silver Award is recognized as the second highest award in Girl Scouting. It is a national award with national standards awarded by a local council on behalf of Girl Scouts of the USA.  Recipients are  recognized as future community leaders. The Girl Scout Silver Award is a service-oriented award pursued by girls who want to make a lasting difference in their community. 

The girls have completed all of the pre requisites prior to starting their project. The project is to collect and fill a backpack for each child.  

Items needed are backpacks, pencils and pens ( unused and packaged), colored pencils, crayons and markers, high lighters, folders and binders, book covers, lined paper and notebooks, rulers, glue, index cards, scissors, pencil cases and books for ages 6 to 18. 

All donations can be dropped off by July 10th at the children's room at the Northboro Freel Library, at 14 Kendall Drive in Northboro or with Judy Wilchynski at 1 Birch Road, Westborough.  

The community support is greatly appreciated in helping to fill the back packs.For further information please call 508-393-8871

GIRL SCOUT COMMUNITY FOOD DRIVE A SUCCESS

The Westborough Girl Scouts held a very successful food drive resulting in one thousand three hundred fifty two pounds of food donated to the Westborough Food Pantry.Community members dropped off items during the day, and in the evening girls brought donations as part of their annual Girl Scout dance.

In addition, three hundred forty five dollars in donations and grocery gift cards were accepted that day. Members of troop 30629, 30633 and 30859 organized the food drive, make fliers and posters for the day. After the food donations were collected the girls sorted the products and checked for expiration dates on all items. The donations are a welcome addition to the food pantry at this time of year. Many of the holiday donations are getting depleted. On an average of one hundred bags of groceries each week is distributed to families in town. In addition, other organizations have held food drives to help keep the shelves stocked. Food donations are accepted year round at the Westborough fire station. Westborough Girl Scouts has over 325 girl members and 148 adult members in twenty nine troops. For more information on Girl Scouts call Judy at 508-870-1895.