Google defines philanthropist as "a person who seeks to promote the welfare of others, esp. by the generous donation of money to good causes." Girl Scouts are philanthropists as they help make the world a better place, assessing needs in their community and helping others in need. Brownies must complete five steps to earn the Philanthropist Badge. The girls have a choice of three different activities for each of the five steps. This post will describe what our troop did to earn this badge.
Step 1: Learn what every person needs. Our girls made "Needs" and "Wants" posters on their own at home. They were instructed to cut pictures out of magazines and glue them onto the poster, labeling the pictures as either "needs" or "wants."
Step 2: Investigate how to help people who are hungry. The girls in our troop worked with Bake Me Home, an organization that provides families a present when they move out of a homeless shelter and into their new home. To read more about this, please check out this post. The girls also packed meals that will be given to starving children around the world. To read more about this project, please take a look at this post.
Step 3: Find out how to help people who need clothing. Our troop has been together for four years. Over that time, they have collected eye glasses for OneSight, shoes for Soles4Souls, and pajamas for a local homeless shelter. Each winter, their school holds a Father-Daughter Dance. The school secretary collects and organizes donated dresses for students in the school who are unable to afford a new dress for the dance. Many of the girls in our troop have donated dresses to Cinderella's Closet. We decided these collections could count for this step.
Step 4: Know how to help in times of emergency. One option for this step was to find out about helping people around the world. I went on a mission trip to Mexico in February 2013. I prepared a slideshow for the girls. As we looked at the pictures, we talked about the children we met and the work we completed while we were in Mexico. Through our discussion, we talked about all five of these badge steps.
Step 5: Think--and act!--like a philanthropist. The girls voted to donate $80 of their cookie sale profit to Feed My Starving Children. This money will pay for the meals to feed one child for an entire year!
Thank you for reading!
Our troop participated in a service project for OneSight. The girls asked family members, friends, and neighbors to donate gently used prescription glasses and non-prescription sunglasses to recycle and deliver to OneSight patients at Global Clinics around the world. Each year, OneSight must collect 2 million pairs of used eyewear to support their Global Clinics.
"In 2012, we will conduct 12 Clinics
in 6 countries. To date, OneSight has completed more than 200 Clinics
in 37 different countries, helping more than 3.5 million people."
The girls in our troop spent part of a meeting decorating shoe boxes with Collection Kit materials we printed from the OneSight website.
Prior to the meeting, I wrapped the shoe boxes in plain wrapping paper I had on hand.
After asking permission, we placed a collection box in each of the Kindergarten and first grade classrooms. Boxes were also placed in the teachers' lounge and workroom. At the end of our drive, we donated 20 pairs of eyeglasses to OneSight!
We were fortunate to have a guest speaker attend one of our meetings to deliver a presentation on behalf of OneSight. Our girls had a chance to try on glasses that altered their vision so they could experience what it would be like to have poor eyesight. They also learned how donated eyeglasses are recycled and distributed to those in need in the United States and around the world.
This collection fulfilled one of our service project requirements, but we informed the girls they were also working on earning petals to complete their Daisy Petals Set. For example: Rose--make the world a better place. Green--use resources wisely. Dark Purple--respect myself and others. Orange--responsible for what I say and do.
It should be noted that OneSight offers tours of their recycling center in Mason, Ohio. Visitors must be at least seven years old. At the time, our troop consisted of primarily five and six-year-olds, so this tour remains on our To Do List.
Thanks for reading!
