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Girl Scouts Get On The Same Page

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By ELIZABETH LEE BROWN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 6, 2008

CARROLLWOOD - You might have seen them at Borders asking patrons to buy a book to donate to a Mississippi middle school destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Or you may have bought some used clothes at their weekend yard sale that raised a couple of thousand dollars for the literary project.

Two years of fundraising efforts culminated recently with the personal delivery of 800 new library books that completed the wish list at St. Martin Middle School in Ocean Springs, Miss.

Members of Girl Scout Troop 1196 raised $8,000 to buy the literary works and drove 1,800 miles to southern Mississippi during the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend to deliver them.

The book drive was the troop's service project to earn the Silver Award, the second-highest honor for Girl Scout troops, and the highest recognition at their age level.

The nine-member troop and its three leaders have been together since kindergarten at Carrollwood Elementary. The teenagers, all freshmen at high schools throughout northwest Hillsborough, meet twice a month to plan service activities and projects.

Troop leader Cay Bacon said each girl had to contribute a minimum of 50 hours to earn the award.

"Our goal was to get all of their books on their wish list. We did that, plus $2000," Bacon said. The extra money bought materials for the classroom.

The group expects to finish additional leadership and service hours needed to complete the Silver Award by spring.
Troop member Annie Shidler, 14, said the Scouts knew they wanted to assist people recovering from a natural disaster.

One of their troop leaders knew a teacher at Carrollwood Elementary whose sister was associated with St. Martin.

From the beginning, the girls knew they would deliver the texts themselves.

"We wanted to see it for ourselves, just to kind of see the whole thing," Shidler said.

Nikki Perrini, 14, said they choose a middle school because at the time they were in middle school, and they wanted to help students their age.

On the way to the school, they saw the communities of FEMA trailers. When they arrived at the school, they found all the temporary classrooms still in portables located on land next to the high school.

"It took a lot of time and effort," Perrini said. "It took a lot of hours. We had to put all our time and effort into it."

Reporter Elizabeth Lee Brown can be reached at (813) 865-1502 or ebrown@tampatrib.com.

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