Local Girl Scout Cadette Troop 1632 recently hosted the Girl Scout Service Unit 43 World Thinking Day observance at Community United Methodist Church in Crofton. More than 200 Girl Scouts aged 5-16 years and their leaders attended.

This year's theme was "Together, we can end extreme poverty and hunger."  The five featured countries of focus were Haiti, Georgia, Zimbabwe, Sudan, and Maldives.  A guest speaker from Heifer International made a brief presentation, and the girls then rotated among four activity stations. The girls offered a $400 donation to the organization from their event registration fees.

At the Poverty Station, they used hammers as they assembled a water bottle holder to remind them of some impoverished peoples' long walks in search of clean water.  At the Hunger Station, they sampled breads from the featured countries. 

The Country Display station featured five project display boards depicting Girl Guide/Girl Scout activities and other research on the designated countries. At the Service Station, the girls were taught to understand how as one person they can make a small difference but by joining their resources with others they can have a much larger impact. 

A Wishing Well was placed on site to accept coin donations to the Juliette Low World Friendship Fund, and a food collection for the Crofton Christian Caring Council Food Bank was conducted.
 
Other highlights included an 8-flag, 18-girl flag ceremony, and live World Music. The event concluded with a traditional Friendship Circle and 150 voices singing the Girl Scout favorite "Make New Friends" in a 4-part round.
 
This event was one of many World Thinking Day events occurring simultaneously across the United States and around the world.

"The purpose of this event is to reinforce traditional Girl Scout values including Discovering, Connecting, and Taking Action on world issues, which will ultimately promote world peace and understanding,” said troop advisor Martha Sykora. “The goal is for the girls to have fun while still learning about serious issues and how they themselves can help.”

To view a photo, click on the thumbnail below. All photos by Allison O'Brien for Suburban Scene.



Captions:

(from left to right)

Caroline Lareuse welcomes the scouts and explains the program.

Sarah Sykora teaches young scouts about Maldives.

Scott Leader Tammy Morales helps the scouts make a water bottle holder.

Thulashi Ram helps Isabella Allen with her water bottle holder.

Tabitha Hutchison and Alexis Galarza from Troop 2276 vote on how to spend the day's donation to Heifer International.

Elise Rizzi talks to the scouts about poverty around the world.

Sadie Drumm talks to scouts Logan Masters and Mary and Nikki Clem about hunger around the world.

Sarah Sykora makes a presentation about Georgia.

Stormy Pearce talks about world hunger and offers the scouts a taste of some of the foods from the regions highlighted.

Camila Velarde talks about challenges in Haiti.

Virginia Milne, volunteer for Heifer International, explains the program.

Martha Sykora helps scouts Jenna Small (partially hidden), Anna Krucoff, Samantha Evans and Sarah Fenton with a craft project.

Daisy troop 4193 scouts Mackenzie Wells, Anna Harper, Rachel Donaldson, Ashley Davis and Judy Wannamaker in a friendship circle.

Troop 19 scouts Crystal Bottner, Sabrina Hodges, Jordan Vincent, Gina Postorino, Alexis Grant and Alexis Haupt with the Maldives flag they created for the flag ceremony.

The scouts of 1632, pictured with their leaders, who worked hard to create the day's activities.

The senior scouts of troop 1231 volunteered to help out.