Bluegrass Music!

Tonight, Ms. Robin Acker (far right), a music student from the University of Pennsylvania, came to our troop meeting for a special presentation on the history of Bluegrass music. 

She introduced the girls to the history of Bluegrass, how it came into being, and how it influences music today.  Once the girls saw the connection between this truly original art form and the music they listen to on the radio (ahem, Taylor Swift), they really got into it.  Several dance breaks were observed during the presentation, but Robin was very patient and seemed like she enjoyed how much the girls took to the music. 

SAVE Service Project

Today, our Brownie Troop helped out with the cleanup at Peter's Creek behind Oaklyn Public School.  The cleanup, hosted by St. Mark's Lutheran Church, became part of the troop's Wonders of Water Journey as our SAVE Water project.  Troop members Audrey, Kennedy, Erin, Riley, Anna, and birthday-girl Madeline came out today to get into the muck and clean up the creek.

The morning dawned beautifully.  Eleanor from St. Mark's gave us a quick lesson in the current conditions of the creek, and explained how the creek is part of the Newton Creek Watershed.  They showed us on a map where the creek is, and how it relates to the larger watershed.  Then, rakes and trash bags in hand, we headed down the banks to get to work. 

Two hours, dozens of trash bags, and three trucks full of trash, we were finished for the day. Other volunteers continued working in the rain, but after two hours of hard work in the muck, we were exhausted.  Some of the more astonishing trash pulled out of the creek today included:  a buoy from the Delaware river, a plastic shopping cart, a bike, a baby pool, a trash can, a large chunk of chain link fencing, a lumberyard's worth of pressure treated lumber, a full bag of concrete, and an inline skate. One of the church volunteers stopped for a minute at one of the three trash trucks on standby to catch his breath and look over the filthy haul.  Holding a multi-pronged hook attached to a sturdy nylon line, he remarked, "Just to get to that trash, we had to pull out other pieces of trash first.  It took us about 45 minutes just to get to that baby pool.  There's just layers of trash out there."

I think that volunteering time today for the cleanup really brought the message home to the girls that it's vitally important to protect our waterways. The girls also got a sense of how long it takes for trash to decay after fishing out several old pieces of trash.  Madeline mentioned that she found a can that "looks just like the one my dad has at home that's like the ones he used to drink as a kid." They saw firsthand how easily trash ends up in our waterways, and how much effort it takes to clean up after other people have been careless. It was hard work today, but soooo worth the newly-clean waterway and the important lesson learned.

March Madness

Well, spring has arrived early this year, apparently, and we're beginning to wind down our Wonders of Water Journey.  The girls received the first of their Journey badges last night, "LOVE Water".  They also received their Cookie Sale 2012 pins for doing such a great job during the cookie sale.

Speaking of the sale, I wanted to extend a big thank you to everyone for pitching in and getting those cookies sold.  I realize that it's very time consuming, and I know the girls and I appreciate all the hard work that went into walking around your neighborhood, manning the cookie booths, and selling at various workplaces.  Great job!

As we continue onward this spring, and through to the end of the year, we'll be spending more time on fun stuff like trips and activities.  Once the Wonders of Water Journey is complete, we'll turn our attention to community service projects, and earning badges, as well as mapping out what types of trips we'll be taking when the weather turns nice.  Please have a look at the Upcoming Events page for a few suggestions.

On Saturday, March 24th, from 9:00 to noon, the girls will earn their "SAVE Water" badge by participating in the cleanup of Peter's Creek behind the school. The cleanup effort is sponsored by St. Mark's Lutheran Church.  Although this isn't a mandatory event, if you scout is not able to attend, I would need you to have her do a community service project on her own in order to earn the badge.  Please contact me for more info.

On Saturday afternoon, March 31st, from 1:00-2:00 pm, we will be doing a cleanup of the Emmanuel Methodist Church where we have our troop meetings.  This is a "thank you" to the church for allowing us to meet in their building for free.  The pastor had asked if we would help clean up the outside of the church so it would be pretty for Good Friday and Easter services.  We will help tidy up and plant some flowers.

Please check back for more information about our troop, and be sure to check in with our Facebook page too!