Troop 1100 of Carmel, NY earned their Bronze award last December by collecting homemade Christmas cookies and making cookie platters for our local police departments, EMTs, fire departments, 911 dispatchers and healthcare workers in Mahopac, Kent, Brewster, Carmel, Patterson and Lake Carmel. Troop leader Valerie shared her troop completed their Bronze award project and Christmas party fundraiser.
Thanking Emergency Service Workers
On Christmas Eve morning the girls and their family members gathered together to deliver our cookies, in spite of bad weather. We all met at the 911 dispatch center in Putnam County, NY, at that time the commissioner of emergency services gave the girls a tour of the facility and how 911 works. Due to the bad weather the dispatchers were hard at work. Our local newspaper was there to capture the moment of my girls delivering their cookies Christmas Eve morning. We split up into groups and started our, “Christmas Cookie Run”! The delivery took each group close to 2 hours.
The service workers were so surprised by the delivery and thankful because it’s one of the harder holidays to be away from their families.
How did they get 1000 homemade cookies? Well each girl baked 5 dozen homemade cookies themselves. Then they planned and hosted a scout Christmas party.
Hosting Christmas Party Fundraiser
First we hosted a wreath making workshop to raise money for our Christmas party. The scouts worked by serving hot chocolate and desserts. They cut the Christmas tree up to make the wreaths and carried wood so our guests could have a toasty fire . It was such a success! We raised enough money for the supplies for our Christmas party.
Each girl had to come up with a craft or game for the party. They had to get their supplies and run their tables. Some ideas were Pin the Heart on the Grinch, Elfie Booth, Stocking Toss, Toss the Star on the Christmas Tree, Naughty or Nice (they would get a piece of coal(chocolate )for naughty and candy cane for nice), edible Christmas crafts, decorate a Santa hat and more. The admission to our party was 2 dozen cookies!! Our project was called, “The Christmas Cookie Run”.
Bronze Award Celebration
We will celebrate on April 22nd with a Bonfire ceremony. We will toast hot dogs on a stick have tacos in a bag. For dessert of course we will have Smores. I can’t wait to celebrate with the girls and their families. They worked very hard!! They really were Santa’s elves.
Hello my name is Valerie Sikora and I’m troop leader for Troop 1100 in Carmel NY. My coleaders are Ursula Stisi and Donna Perez. I have developed such a passion for scouts and being a leader. For the last 4 years I have worked and watched these girls become Brownies, Juniors and soon to be Cadettes. Watching these little girls mature into soon to be teens has been such a rewarding experience for me and them. I love planning badges, journeys and trips which have been so successful. We’ve had so many amazing experiences already. I can’t wait to see what’s to come. I’m hoping to make the world a better place by leading my 14 girls to be strong individuals and good citizens.
