As I entered High School, I felt a great need to help others. Thus my freshmen year, I earned my Girl Scout Silver Award. For my project, my troop and I worked in conjunction with a North Arlington nursing home for adults with intellectual disabilities. Our goal was to create an annual Valentine’s Day Dance, which would serve as a day of pleasure and enjoyment for these adults. We felt that this type of event would liven their spirits and give them something to smile about. The dance we organized involved music, dancing, food, arts and crafts, and games. Because this project was executed as a troop, we were each assigned different responsibilities. My role was to create and/or determine the games that would be played during the event. As we had a limited budget, I decided that it would be beneficial to both ask for donations of old games and to create some new games. Three games were decided one: darts, spin the wheel, and baseball toss. For each of these games, everyone would receive a prize regardless of whether or not they won. However, we needed to determine a way to raise money for these prizes. Thus, I decided that a rummage sale would be the most effective. I had to choose a time and location for the sale and find a way to get the word across. I created posters and flyers and hung them around town. I send e-mails to the teachers in the district to inform their students and attended troop meetings of other Girl Scouts in town to tell them about the event. I asked people to donate items they no longer used and determined what price to sell the objects. This event also required me to be organized and make an inventory list of all the items that were to be sold. This rummage sale enabled my troop to have enough money to buy prizes for the event.
This project was an amazing experience, as it enabled me to realize how one simple event can truly make a difference to several lives. Throughout the course of this project, I gained much knowledge about the affects of intellectual disabilities on a social, emotional, and economical level, I hope that more people will contribute their time to worthy causes as such, because you, as one person, can truly make a difference.