June 3, 2005

Girl Scouts assist Santa Clara County Animal Shelter

The girls in Evergreen Girl Scout Troop 696 recently earned their Bronze Award by donating time and materials to the Santa Clara County Animal Shelter in San Martin.

The girls pictured are: Brianna Krong, Catherine Mace, Janey Lee, Melissa Ling, Amanda Guzikowski, Tabitha Ahearn, Sneha Singh, Lauren Speers, Nicole Cuenca and Sravani Kondapavulur. Below: The girls working on one of the cat toys. Lauren Speers, Amanda Guzikowski, Tabitha Ahearn, Sravani Kondapavulur, Catherine Mace, Sneha Singh, Melissa Ling, Janey Lee, Brianna Krong and Nicole Cuenca.

The Bronze Award is the highest award a Junior Girl Scout can achieve. The troop of 10 sixth graders spent more than 15 hours each making two kinds of cat toys and dog biscuits; collecting donations of food, newspaper, toys, towels and blankets; and volunteering their time at the shelter. 

The troop will soon bridge to Cadette Girl Scouts, the next level of scouting, where they can begin working on their Silver Award.

“Sometimes I just wanted to quit,” admitted Nicole Cuenca, a junior Girl Scout from Troop 696. “But then I would think about the cute little kittens and the puppies and just keep going. And then, when we finally delivered the toys and food to the animal shelter, the look on their faces was so amazing that I was just glad that I could be a part of that.”

Cuenca added that the project started out as something the girls wanted for themselves and turned into an effort to help animals that really needed it. She considers it “a life long memory that I will remember forever.”

Janey Lee, another Girl Scout who earned her Bronze Award, said, “It was wonderful to know I could make a difference by doing the simplest thing for these animals.”

Girl Scout Catherine Mace added, “I really enjoyed making the cat toys and I hope that the cats have fun with them.”
Sneha Singh and Melissa Ling from Troop 696 both agreed that earning their Bronze Award while helping the animals in the shelter was a great experience for the whole troop.

Tabitha Ahearn enjoyed working with all of her friends. Brianna Krong, Sravani Kondapavulur and Lauren Speers particularly enjoyed working with the animals. “I wanted to help each and every animal at the shelter,” commented Brianna Krong.

“I love pets,” added Spears, “and knowing that I was doing something good while having fun was a great feeling.”
Amanda Guzikowski said that just “Knowing that we were helping the animals made me feel wonderful while working on this project. I also fell in love with a couple of animals there.”