Quality Gold Award Project

Massachusetts Girl Scout Builds Free Gardens
Posted: 06 Aug 2012 12:54 PM PDT

In Massachusetts, the North Reading Patch reports that Kristen Shevlin has been building back yard vegetable gardens for residents as part of her Girl Scout Gold Award project. She is doing this free of charge, and plans to continue next year.

Shevlin has been involved with Girl Scouts since she was in kindergarten. Receiving the Gold award, the highest honor for a Girl Scout, would be a great way to "end her Girl Scout career," she said. She chose building backyard gardens for her project because she wanted to "do something to give back to our town a little bit.”

The raised gardens contain vegetable plants including tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and peppers. She realizes that a backyard garden can take up a lot of space, so also offers potted gardens.

This year, she planted around 15 or 20 gardens. Some of the residents plan to donate what they grow to the North Reading Food Pantry. She also planted some directly in the yards of residents who go to the pantry regularly.

“I had a lot of help with this, but so far it has been really successful," she said.

Right now, she is working on creating a website for the project to keep it sustainable for years to come. If she is unable to complete it when she goes off to college, she can pass it on to another girl scout. The website will have a description of the project, her contact information for future years and instructions on how to build your own garden.

She is also creating recipe cards for members of the pantry so they will have various ideas for how to cook the vegetables.

This is probably a pretty darn good Gold Award Project IF we make a couple assumptions that aren't mentioned in the article.

Her non-profit partner:  A shelter? Soup Kitchen Pantry?

The ISSUE: hungry people without resources for food who can learn to create their own food?

Root Cause:  lack of space for a food garden? lack of knowledge on how to do it? English issues? Money?

Discover: "teaching a man to fish"  or teaching a family to grow their own food is possible!

How to connect:  Gather a team to learn how to make the garden boxes.  Same team to help educate the recipients of the boxes. And help provide support during the growing seasons.  Unlike California, Massachusetts has SNOW!  Wonder if things grow in a basement?

Take Action:  Partner with the NP to identify who needs these boxes.  Teach them how to grow vegetables/food that they will be able to enjoy eating.  Provide simple recipes on how to use the vegetables in the box.  

Is it measurable?  Count the number of boxes given away?  The number of families helped?  The number of families who re-plant during the year?

Is it sustainable?  I'm not sure what "pass it on to another Girl Scout" means, but it seems to me that the NP Pantry she is partnering with is likely to support volunteers who want to help garden.  Did Shevlin work to set it up for the NP? Sure seems like a good fit.  Other Girl Scouts could certainly help, under the auspices of the NP.

What are the global implications?  Well, could she provide recipe cards to other shelters/soup kitchens/pantries that help those in need?  Truly, if the work she did for one can reach further, that's a global implication -- it takes it beyond just one shelter/pantry to help a greater number of people in her immediate community and perhaps, even county.

Here's the part that sticks in my craw: "Receiving the Gold award, the highest honor for a Girl Scout, would be a great way to "end her Girl Scout career," she said." Oh my, but she is so wrong!  There is sooo much for her to do as an Adult Girl Scout!  Let's remind OUR Gold girls. They don't have to leave Scouting, just because they graduate high school or earn a Gold. Girl Scouting can be part of their life. Forever!