Loved stretching my legs during this event! I have to say cleaning up the sides of the road did make me lose a little faith in humanity because why...WHY ARE YOU LITTERING!!! STOP! Mother Nature should take revenge on those who disrespect her.
I LOVE the Theta Chi Epsilon sponsored park!!!!! Third Street park holds a special place in my heart. We went there today to rake some leaves, weed the garden beds, and most importantly install the Little Free Library!!! I have to say that was probably the worst post hole I have ever dug -- the rocks were never ending. However, after a little concrete & a lot of patience we have a secure post ready for the LFL to be drilled on tomorrow.
Camp Echo seems to always be a hot dry week of Girl Scout camp; this year was anything but that. It was cold and dreary which was quite the switch up. Since there were enough volunteers to cover all age groups this year I was the photographer and archery instructor -- both of which were very laid back due to weather. Sadly, I didn't do much with photography due to shelter in place (lightning) instructions and because my camera is not waterproof. However we did get to do archery with all groups that wanted to on Saturday when the weather let up a bit. This year was the first time I got to do archery with the Brownies! We brought mini genesis bows so the brownies could participate safely and it was 100% worth it! Some still had a hard time pulling back the bows but it's safe to say they all had a blast. Even though this year was much more relaxed than most, I still had a blast volunteering and becoming part of these girl's Girl Scout journeys!
I am so grateful to have been given the chance to volunteer this year at Raise Your Voice, an event I attended many times as a girl member of GSEIWI. When I was a girl this event helped my find my voice and feel confident in speaking up about things I wanted to change in the world -- it was such a gift to have been part of that transformation for the attendees this year.
This year the event was held at University of Northern Iowa where. the girls stayed in the dorms and ate on campus, like true university students. We learned about sustainable infrastructure both as it relates to climate but also as it relates to disabilities. The girls were able to learn about dementia at UNI's dementia house, where they got to experience a simulation of living with dementia. And I got to watch them learn about how the blind use long canes to navigate the world. I have to say it was very entertaining to watch them attempt to navigate using canes and blindfolds -- lot of laughter was involved. Overall was a wonderful experience that I would definitely help out with again.
My dad attends a church who relies on their congregation to keep the garden beds around their property in nice order. My father voulenteered to help being the saint that he is but unfortunately he is majorly lacking in the green thumb department so, of course, I helped out.
We went through the garden bed he was assigned and I helped him identify each plant explaining weather it was a weed or a plant and if it needed a bigger space to grow or not. After weeding we had some empty spots because we had to pull out some tree saplings so we planted some colorful flowers to liven the plot up the mulched the bed. It is very important this garden bed looks good as it is right next to the buisness entrance of the church. I'd say we did a good job!
CCC (Courage Confidence & Campfires) is a weekend where adult volunteers in GSEIWI can get trained to do different activities with their girls. This year these activities included: Outdoor Skills, Next Steps-Advanced Outdoor Cooking, Challenge Course, ZipLine + Rock Wall, and Archery. I was one of two photographers volunteering to capture the events of the weekend for GSEIWI/CCC marketing. I have been a photography volunteer for GSEIWI since middle school and have been coming to this event for over 3 years as a photographer now. The best part of this year was the fact the sun was actually out. That NEVER happens! I'm glad I was able to capture the work our volunteers put into being able to provide memorable experiences to their troops again this year.
As a devoted Girl Scout Volunteer I am always ready to help when asked. This Sunday, the day after driving back from MTU, I was asked to come help prep for Flowers For All -- an event my troop started when I was in early high school. Each year, a troop in our service unit goes through bins of flowers in steaks re-gluing loose flowers, throwing out the flowers that are damaged or have lost their color, and putting together new arrangements. This year it was the 6th-12th grade troop (troop 4242), which I regularly volunteer for, who did the prep work. We managed to go through old arrangements and make enough new arrangements to fill 6 large totes!
In about a month, around memorial day, all Girl Scouts in the service unit will be invited to distribute the arrangements by headstones in the oldest sections of the cemetery as a local Amvet -- a total history buff -- talks about the lives of the people in the cemetery. Its a highlight every year! We are truly lucky to be able to honor our towns history in this way.
After having a meeting with a leader & finding out what their goals were for the Senior/Ambassador cohort of girls at Camp Echo for this year I got to work planning their activities. As this is a completely volunteer run camp the goal is to do cool things with supplies we already have & that is exactly what I was planning for. This summer those girls will be earning their fiber arts badge, new cuisines badge, and a choice of different outdoors badges over the three day camp. Most activities are pretty standard but I did make a plan to harvest clay from the creek at the bottom of the property and fire what they make back at the campsite. It's going to be a blast working with these girls!
I was in the group of people making snuff mats for dogs ended up being a very meditative -- exactly what I needed this Saturday. Went nonverbal for a bit but then Hamilton was put on and we all started getting really into the musical while working on the mats. It was a blast!
I went cat cuddling with Delayna at the Humane society to decompress. Truly wish I could take them all home with me -- they're so sweet it's not okay. I sent most of my time playing and cuddling with a long haired grey fluff ball whose name is currently escaping me. When not playing with him I was giving my attention to the more reserved cats who probably don't get much attention from guests. One of these melted my heart because she looked and acted just like the tiger my parents got when they were students up here. Adia (that cat) was around my whole childhood so seeing a cat that reminded me that much of her melted my heart.
