How a GIRL might think about her Gold....

I received an email from a troop Gold Award Advisor, asking me about one of her girls' Gold Award Project.  And I thought I'd share what the girl wrote, and then what I wrote back.  Maybe it can help others advisors about who we Gold Award Interviewers think about the Gold Award Take Action Projects!  (I have edited for space, not content.)

"I want to recognize an issue that is worldwide, cancer. Cancer not only affects the patient, but also affects the loved ones around them. For my Gold Award, I want to create something that would help out the family members and friends of cancer patients. How would I do that, you might ask? To answer that, I'm going to create a Facebook page that will let others and myself give out advice to those loved ones- presumably teenagers, who have friends or family with cancer. This would be through different writings of people (teens) that have experienced the same thing, documentaries, a Q and A section, and a FAQ.  My team that I would lead would be my friends and I who do lots of filming together, and a partnership with Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA). CHLA would help to publicize the site by putting a link on their website. In turn I would help to also publicize different cancer events and information for them through the Facebook page. My hope for this project is to really help teens that do not really know how to deal with a loved one who has cancer. Its a scary feeling helpless in these kinds of situations, and I hope to change that through this page full of advice and life stories. 

My initial thought was, "but she's not connecting to the community she's serving."  i.e. She's not setting up a structure for the kids to getogether on a regular basis and come in and chat with each other, have speakers, get some education, share experiences, etc. 

But then I thought, but this is a new century, and kids don't always connect the way they did, 15 years ago!  They are much more internet savvy, and more likely to connect with kids all over the states about this kind of issue. 

So, her issue is cancer support for teens

Her root cause is cancer disrupts life. Not only of the one with the disease, but loved ones around her/him.

She is connecting to the need by creating a forum for teens to share.  She is also providing education and resources for these same kids.

Sustainability:  CHLA sounds like they will promote the videos on their site, but it would be great if she were able to also reach out to other non-profits and link to them as well.  (Komen, Avon Run, Revlon 10K, etc.) She should be able to come up with more ways to get the word out.

Measurable:  She might need to think how she can measure success?  number of hits? number of posts?  A good question for her.

I think that it would be great to have a piece where she actually presents this to her school?  PTA? city?  hospital?  and has a chance to create a live presentation to hook people into clicking for help and participating online.  That would be a really good leadership piece that she would need, beyond organizing the filming and writing a website with her team. Plus, she will be educating her team, too, as they all share their stories and work together.  The group she's presenting to could link their site to hers.

I think that if she can partner with someone at CHLA (or elsewhere?) to read over her info, and be sure that she is posting accurate info, and that the stories the kids contribute and tell are not full of mis-information, that would be great! 

I also think that she needs a resource for kids to go to for more help:  organizations that have kid programs, or?  That way, if the kid needs more, they can try another worthy resource. It will take some time for the girl and her team, but finding the resource and creating a paragraph about it, with a live link would be a great benefit, I'd bet.