2005 Gold Award Recipients

Project: Back to School Camp for Battered Women's Shelter

Jessica held a school camp for children of the battered Women's Shelter that included a variety of activities on various subjects that included: math, science, literature and culture that "refreshed and educated the children."

Project: Youth Roost Re-do

Olivia's project included cleaning, painting and furnishing a room at the Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club in Gastonia. The comfortable room was created to "inspire teens to do homework, read, play board games or just watch TV and socialize."

Project: Interfaith Hospitality Activity Boxes

Leigh Ann created activity boxes and take home bags for children of the Interfaith Hospitality Network to use while at Southminister Presbyterian Church. She collected donations and purchased material for children.

Project: Painting for Jesus

Emily's project involved painting and organizing a new craft closet for her church. She also painted a Sunday school classroom. Emily is hoping that youth groups will come and enjoy the newly painted room and crafters will find the craft closet more organized.

Project: Dr. Seuss Reading Day

Connie held a reading day at an elementary school on Dr. Seuss' birthday. The day's activities included several guests that read to the class, followed by cooking Green eggs and Ham and visiting seussville.com on the Internet.

Project: Skating and Tennis Shed

Heather's project was to construct a shed at Camp Golden Valley. After sketching out the plans and clearing the area, Heather and her father worked to build cubbies, storage bins and shelves for the inside of the shed. Once construction started and the building supports, floor, porch and walls, roof and siding soon followed. A dedication ceremony and open house was held after the shed was painted and ready to store the equipment. The new shed will be used at camp this summer.

Project: Kitchen Renovations at Youth Kitchen

Serving as a storage area for a number of years, the youth kitchen at Allison's church was in need of remodeling. From the flooring to the walls, to the counter top and cabinets, the kitchen received an overhaul. Complete with donated kitchen appliances and supplies and purchased storage containers, the kitchen is now an inviting space that is both functional and available for groups that meet at the church.

Project: Come On! Let's Hear it for the Red, White and Blue!

Jennifer worked with Junior Girl Scouts at an elementary school to develop a flag patrol. She raised a flagpole at the Marion Draper Woods Girl Scout Hut in the Shelby City Park and created a learning box for troops to use.

Project: Lending a Helping Hand Through Music

Angela visited nursing homes and played the piano for the residents. She provided tapes of her music and songbooks as well as coordinated a Children's choir to come and sing as she played. She also created additional copies of the songbooks and tapes for nursing homes and also prepared boxes of the materials for members of her church who were unable to attend services.

Project: Interfaith Hospitality Network Lending Library

Sally Claire established a permanent lending library for the Interfaith Hospitality Network. Assisting families in transition, the Interfaith Hospitality Network Library allows families to check out books since they are unable to check out resources from the public library without a permanent address. Exceeding her goal of 300 donated books; Sally Claire was excited by the enthusiastic response to her project.

Project: Ready to Serve

Brittney refurbished a conference room at Creative Opportunities Day Center for mentally and physically handicapped adults. With her troop, Brittney completely refurbished the room spending many hours sanding, painting and cleaning. Brittney also received donations for the room that included a corkboard and chairs.

Project: Please Come and Let's Take Tea

Katie planned an elegant tea party subtitled "Walk a Mile in My Shoes Celebration" by the Women's Shelter in Gastonia to honor current and past residents of the Shelter of Gaston County. The theme party was an opportunity for survivors of domestic violence to relax and enjoy themselves. With a guest speaker that gave insight on the art of taking tea, guests also received a unique teacup and saucer, as well as a key chain. Katie and her troop raised awareness while soliciting for donations of teacups, antique teapots, hats and gloves in the community. A special tea party recipe book was written for the event.

Project: Adopt-A-Grandparent

Kenda visited homebound members of her church over a seven-month period bringing them homemade baked goods and planning activities for them. Kenda held a luncheon because she wanted to "make them feel special and know they are still part of the church even though they may not be able to attend." The event included lunch, door prizes, crafts and musical entertainment.

Project: Sports Safety

Loren created sports safety brochures for basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball, track, soccer and cheerleading - all the sports opportunities at her school. With the help of her Grandfather, Loren made a brochure holder that was posted outside of the school gymnasium. Loren hoped her brochures result in fewer sports injuries. A disk of the brochures was given to the school principle to ensure that additional brochures can be printed as needed.

Project: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle at Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy

Noticing that large trashcans were being filled with aluminum cans every day at her school, Vanessa worked to educate her peers, school and community about recycling which resulted in change on campus. Vanessa initiated a recycling program on campus that has resulted in the weekly collection of aluminum cans in the school. The can are then brought to the reclamation center where they are weighed and based on their weight the school receives funds.

Project: With Friends Game Room Upgrade

Laurel's project involved creating an incentive, the upgrade game room, at With Friends that would encourage teens to realize that self-control and goal achievement can bring rewards that are positive. With Friends is an organization that provides emergency shelter for at- risk teens where Laurel serves on its Youth Advisory Board.

Project: Mighty Mutts

Meredith trained dogs to be therapy dogs and instructed their handlers as well. She titled her project Mighty Mutts because she was open to all pedigree of dogs, both mutt and pure breeds. Meredith and the handlers she trained brought Ginger, (Meredith's Mighty Mutt) and a group of other therapy dogs to visit nursing home residents in Gaston County.

Project: The Beauty of Nature

Shelley worked to beautify the Marcia H. Cloninger Rail Trail in Lincolnton. After obtaining permission from Department of Downtown Development, Shelley outlined her plans and purchased the flowers, trees and necessary materials. The trail now has forsythias, pansies, a flowering dogwood, fall camellias, and Japanese red maples.

Project: Voice Your Choice: Vote

Holly Anne worked to register as many voters as possible and educate the community about voting. With the help of a graphic designer, Holly Anne created an informational pamphlet on the "significance of voting, the responsibilities of being a citizen, voting facts and resources" and held a voter registration drive. Distributing over 1000 copies of the pamphlets by the end of her project, Holly Anne shared her voting information packet that included her pamphlet, precinct map, sample voter registration form and newspaper clippings with many Girl Scout troops in Cleveland County.