Schools

Frontenac Girl Scout Renovates Visitors' Room at Foster Care Facility

Sixteen Year old felt there was plenty of room for improvement.

 

Emily Esther, a 16-year-old Girl Scout from Frontenac and attends Whitfield dedicated more than 100 hours toward renovating a visitation room for supervised meetings between parents and children at Every Child’s Hope Foster Care Facility for her Girl Scout Gold Award.

Every Child’s Hope (ECH) is a non-profit organization that works with children who are wards of the court by assisting them and their families in their individual quest for health and wholeness through quality, faithful, professional services.  Part of the process in finding a home for the child is done in supervised visitation rooms.

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Emily noticed that the visitation room at ECH did not encourage communication or bonding between the parents and children and that frequently the individuals did not want to see each other.

 “For my Gold Award project my objective was to create a room that was more warm and friendly so that it would encourage communication and bonding,” Emily said. “I wanted to create a room that encouraged a healthy parent-child relationship.”

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Prior to Emily’s renovation, the visiting room was described as sparse, stark and cavernous. Before she began her project Emily worked with ECH employees and her project advisor to identify the needs of the parents and children utilizing the visitation room.

From there, Emily made a supply list, investigated costs and recruited volunteers to assist her with the renovation. She consulted with an interior designer and shopped for supplies and tool rentals. Emily also painted the room and collected furniture, toys and books to be placed throughout the area.

Emily and ten other young women attended their final Girl Scout Award interview and evaluation last Tuesday evening. The final interview and evaluation is the last step in completing the approval process for earning this prestigious award. The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest, national achievement within Girl Scouting for girls, 9th through 12th grade. Only 5.4 percent of eligible Girl Scouts successfully complete their project. 

To earn the Girl Scout Gold Award requires a minimum of 80 hours of planning and implementing a challenging, large-scale project that shows leadership, is innovative, engages others and has a lasting impact on the community with an emphasis on sustainability.

Emily’s completed project was so successful that ECH employees praised her performance. Michael P. Brennan, the Executive Director of Every Child’s Hope, wrote to say that the space is used more often than ever before and that in many cases the kids don’t want to leave. He also said that before Emily completed her Girl Scout project the space was large and spacious but lacked a warm and friendly place for therapists to work with children and families. Emily is responsible for solving that problem.

Emily feels that completing this project has helped her to become more responsible and organized. She lists the most successful part of her journey as the fact that she was able to help young kids. Emily’s project will make a lasting difference in the community by assisting with improving personal relationships between children and their parents.

In June, Emily and the other young ladies will join the 2012 Gold Awardees to be honored and receive their award in a special Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri council-wide recognition ceremony. Girl Scouts will continue to complete their Gold Award project through the end of this year and the beginning of the 2012. All Girl Scouts who’ve earned the Gold Award will receive their award and be honored at a ceremony in June.

Information provided by the communications department of the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri.


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