Ainsley Case, Tessa Knotts, and Samantha Taylor have been awarded the Girl Scout Silver Award by the Lake Highlands Service Unit 165. The Girl Scout Silver Award is the second highest achievement in Girl Scouting. It “symbolizes a Girl Scout Cadette’s accomplishments in Girl Scouting and her community as she discovers her strengths and takes action to make the world a better place.”

The Girl Scout Silver Award asks Cadettes to identify an issue that affects their community, to come up with a solution that leads to lasting and sustainable change, and to work for at least 50 hours to achieve a solution. For their project, these cadettes wanted to support a project close to home so they could impact the lives of people in the LH community. They chose the St. Patrick’s Church Refugee Outreach Program because it connects the collective generosity of LH residents to the needs of those in our community who have overcome struggle, hardship, and loss to make a life for themselves here in North Texas. 

The girls worked with program leader Therese Sabine to identify unmet needs of the refugee outreach program, settling on a project that suited the girl’s strengths and heart to provide for kids just like themselves. “It has been an absolute joy to work with these community-minded girls over the past several months,” Sabine said. “The small improvements they’ve made will enhance our ability to deliver services in a big way, for years to come.”

Over the course of the summer, these cadettes cleaned out, organized, and beautified two supply closets before restocking and organizing the closets. The outdoor closet has been turned into a quick stop shop for essentials including diapers, laundry detergent and toilet paper, the most commonly requested items. The cadettes “wanted to create a place where people could shop with dignity to get the items they need,” so they went beyond making the closet functional and focused on making it a welcoming place.

In a second closet inside the church, the girls created an organizational plan to allow the interior supply closet to be shared with another St Pat’s program. They organized the materials and made craft kits for elementary age students participating in the program. 

The project was funded, in part, by Troop 7760, cookie funds. Troop Leader Kira Hartgrove shared “It has been extremely rewarding to see these girls grow over the years. The took great pride in using their hard-earned proceeds from cookie sales to help make our community a better place for all.” 

All three cadettes are freshman in high school. Ainsley Case attends JJ Pearce High School, Tessa Knotts attends Ursuline Academy, and Samantha Taylor attends Bishop Lynch. The girls met at Highlander School in 4th grade and have been Girl Scouts together ever since.