SPRINGFIELD – Although most people associate Girl Scouts with their annual cookie sales, they do much more than that.
Giving back is a main virtue of the Girl Scouts, and Troop 20073 of Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington is exemplifying this by providing some much-needed love to the playgrounds of Head Start of Lane County, mostly focusing on the one located on B Street in Springfield.
This troop of six girls aged 9-13, plus one 18-year-old Girl Scout from Troop 11031, has begun revamping the B Street Head Start playground and plans to have it fully complete and functional before kids are back in school this fall.
Alongside community partners, this troop has:
• Cleared out a corner of the playground for an indigenous plant garden
• Painted arrows on the ground so students ride bikes in the same direction, lessening traffic and collisions
• Painted 20 colorful circles on the ground in the shape of caterpillars for up to 20 students so they could line up easier
• Built and painted 10 balance beams which will go to 10 Head Start of Lane County schools, the first being B Street
• Provided overall maintenance and upkeep to the B Street playground.
• Everything listed above was done per the request of some Head Start teachers who imagined their ideal playgrounds and equipment, but the execution of the ideas boiled down to the Girl Scouts’ creativity.
Tiffany Sanderson, Heart Start regional assistant and Girl Scouts troop leader, said what makes this group “unique” is that “each of the girls in some way of fashion is neurodivergent.” She attributed this as a reason as to why this troop is on the smaller side, emphasizing the importance of meeting everyone’s different needs and adding that some girls also have physical disabilities.
This service project is kid-led, and each troop member played to their individual strengths while fixing up the playground. Zowie Sanderson, 13, wore noise-canceling headphones while working with a leaf blower to consolidate the wood chips, and they also used the headphones while painting the balance beams. Cady Simmons, 9, focused on the artistic aspects of the projects – like drawing the arrows on the pavement – since enjoys art, pencils being her favorite medium. Some of the older girls like Cady’s older sister, 13-year-old Abbi, and Tempe Druesedow, 13, got their hands dirty by helping clear brush and re-soil the gardening corner.
At left, Abbi Simmons, 13, worked on the indigenous plant garden July 19.
And as far as the materials for the project go, most were donated by PARR Lumber, Sherwin-Williams Paint Store on 18th Street in Springfield, and Rexius Landscaping.
“We like to do community outreach for people in the local area, so we take certain cases for donation, and they had a project that I really liked, so we decided to give them some paint,” said Michael Milem, store manager of Sherwin-Williams Paint Store on 18th Street.
This troop also connected with accounting group Moss Adams for a day of service on July 19 where a significant amount of the work was completed. These two were able to connect through United Way of Lane County, which Kelly Warren, Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington volunteer membership specialist, called a “clearing house for volunteers.”
“Girl Scouts, part of their mission is being of service to the community,” said Warren. “The basic tenet of Girl Scouts is building girls of courage, confidence, and character, so this is their opportunity to share those concepts with adult professionals in the community, working alongside them to be of service to the community.”
