Posted on 03/21/2014 7:33:10 AM PDT by Morgana
Hannah Sheboy, 16, has been a Girl Scout most of her life and believes that there are some clear positives to being a part of the organization. From helping girls build their confidence and making new friends to having a strong foundation to grow up with, the Girl Scouts have helped Hannah become who she is today.
“The positives can’t outweigh what’s going on [with the Planned Parenthood-Girl Scouts connection], but they are certainly there,” says Hannah. “I don’t think I’d be able to do a project like this without the strong foundation I have from both my church community and my Girl Scout community. So even if it’s not Girl Scouts that you’re involved in, it’s important to have some foundation. I’ve gained a lot of confidence, gained a lot of friends, and gained a strong relationship with my older sister and my mom through Girl Scouts.”
Hannah’s Girl Scout Gold Award project needed to include something that had a lasting impact. It had to be something that would affect her community in a positive way. So Hannah decided that she would help pro-life causes. With the support of her parents and her church, Hannah got to work on her three-part project.
The first part involved collecting clothes for Birth Right and spreading awareness about the non-profit organization which is devoted to helping pregnant women and their children. Hannah held a clothing drive that included advertisements in the local newspaper and a fundraiser at the local Lowe’s.
“The clothing drive went really well,” says Hannah. “The main box was in my living room, but we had an entire side of my living room completely covered in bags at one point. A lot of people called to set up donations and a lot of people donated money. I had a bake sale and people gave money to help buy clothing and receiving blankets. We had 20 to 30 bags of maternity, baby, and kids’ clothes and 10 big boxes of diapers.”
For the second part of her project, Hannah showed October Baby, a pro-life film following a teenage girl who discovers she was an abortion survivor, to her church youth group. She also showed the group to the 8th grade CCD class. While a lot of the teens had a hard time taking it seriously at first, Hannah feels that they ended up having a great discussion after the movie because October Baby makes it easy to appreciate being pro-life. Hannah and her family in front of the garden she created in memory of all aborted babies.
Hannah and her family in front of the garden she created in memory of all aborted babies.
The final part of her project needed to make a lasting impact. Hannah was considering creating pro-life brochures to have at church or starting a blog; however, her pastor had a different idea. After receiving some donated statues he asked Hannah if she would like to use them to build a garden. So Hannah and her family and friends built a garden at the front of the church that is dedicated to the memory of all aborted babies.
“I think it’s very important to spread awareness that this is an issue without being in peoples’ faces to the point where they resent you for it,” says Hannah. “The little messages of watching October Baby, or a pretty garden where they read the plaque, or the box for Birth Right. It turns their heads in a subtle way.”
Although Hannah has sold Girl Scout cookies in the past, she didn’t choose to do that this year.
“Although it’s often kind of denied that there’s some sort of pro-choice connection, [the Girl Scouts] are not exactly pro-life,” she explains. “They donate to a lot of different groups, and they don’t tell you who they are donating to or who they’re getting money from. So I’m not sure about it. And also, it’s not really worth it. We don’t make money individually off cookie sales; it’s all going to the national level, and it doesn’t stay local. So I would have rather done this to work at a local level. It’s got to start from home first.”
Hannah enjoyed every aspect of her Gold Award project and is really proud of how many people it affected. Strangers and friends alike appreciated that Hannah brought the subject of abortion out in the open. And she’s really proud of all the people who helped make it possible, especially her parents, saying she couldn’t have done it without them.
A stalk of precious wheat growing amongst the tares.
I didn’t realize the girl scouts created such racists. </sarcasm>
Just as long as she doesn’t get too “bossy”. ;>}
Should get a pro-life merit badge.
No I won’t!
You guys are Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!
Doesn’t the Girl Scouts have a rule that if you don’t sell a certain amount of cookies, then you can no longer be a Girl Scout?
A girl scout not supportive of murder?
‘There’s a great disturbance in the Force.’
The kid has got her facts totally wrong about cookie sales
the profits are virtually all “local” to the troops and Councils, after paying the bakers
In fact, her misinformation about cookie sales raises red flags for me about her bona fides to be GS much less a Gold Award recipient. Has this kid ever even been in a troop? Doesnt sound like it, since cookie sales are how troops raise money to pay for their activities... and
girls in the troop who are needy.
This is not true leadership, this is a wrong headed opinionated girl with an agenda. Ah well, as long as folks agree with her agenda they will ignore her misinformed statements (which do damage to the GS troop and Council that gave her the opportunity to earn a Gold) and think she is a hero
NO
No girl is required to sell cookies. However cookies are our only approved money earning activity (you can add a few more money earners if the girls have a goal that merits funding, and only after they sell cookies)
If a girl does not sell cookies her activities and her troop are supposed to be self funded. In reality the girls who sell cookies pay for activities for those who don’t
In our Council however a girl cannot earn a Gold Award unless she participates in the cookie sales since it benefits local troops and her Council. I fully support this.
So in your area the Gold Award has become a vomitous badge of putrification, signifying that the recipient is utterly lacking in character or empathy.
Sad really...
Just picking nits here - and you did cover your statement with the use of "virtually." Doesn't GS-USA National get some kind of royalty remittance from their baker vendors for use of the GS-USA logo?
Right. The girls are required to help fund abortions. This brave little girl has sure ruffled some pro-abort feathers.
LOL!!!!!!!!
Yeah, the Gold Award in our area is “vomitous” alright!
My niece started a children’s choir as her Gold
My daughter who will do Gold next year is deciding whether to start a theatre troupe at the local Boys and Girl’s club or rebuild the display area of a local church thrift pantry to make people feel better about selecting cast off clothing and getting donated groceries in a cheerful nicely lit area
Want to puke some more? Here ya go. Empathize to your heart’s content, show that character we lack, cry for us.
http://www.gscnc.org/files/pdf/pubs/inyourhonor.pdf
Yes, we pay the baker about $2.50 per box of cookies and part of their cost is paying GSUSA a fee to use their trademark
The other $1.50 per box goes to troops and Councils
So this kid’s comments about cookie profits not being local were waaaay off
Plus GSUSA as a nonprofit does not make monetary donations to other nonprofits, another misstatement by this curiously uninformed girl
another thing that’s off in this story- in our Council a Gold girl must work on her project with an outside organization and sponsor- not her troop leader and not her family
I wonder why a child who is so uninformed and hostile to GS wanted to earn its highest award?
Kinda like someone who is boycotting Walmart trying to be employee of the year
http://wholeworldinhishands.com/world/definition_of_abortion.html
This is what every one of those kids who sells the cookies is helping to finance. They raise money which is used to make it happen.
No exceptions. No equivocating.
Now, you make it clear that in your mind doing some little good deed erases that.
Bull.
When those kids bring the innocent babies that are slaughtered by Planned
Parenthood back to life then amends were made.
My comment stands.
I wonder why you’re so hostile toward a pro-life child.
I am astounded by the misinformation she believes or is spreading about GS, and HER hostility to GS
has nothing to do with the substance of her project
which BTW, had to be reviewed and approved and awarded by GS
one thing a real girl leader learns in GS is she is part of a team, and leads by her example, not above it, and not in contempt of it. This chick strikes out as a leader and model GS, despite her good works. Her comments about her sister GS are either ditzy or malicious
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.