GSSJC receives award for international Learning Board
service project

by Evelyn Vittone and Melinda Gaskill

Spiritual Activity Day for Catholic Girl Scouts

The Galveston-Houston Diocese Committee on Girl Scouting will hold a Spiritual Activity Day for Catholic Girl Scouts from 9 a.m.- 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 2 at the Girl Scout Center, 3110 Southwest Freeway. Girls, grades 2 - 12, are invited. Activities will include working on religious awards: The Family of God for grades 2-3; The I Live My Faith for grades 4-6; Mary, the First Disciple for grades 7-9; and The Spirit Alive for grades 10-12. Seniors who complete The Spirit Alive and also receive The Gold Award are eligible to receive The Bishop’s Gold.
Registration is $10 and includes event patch. Books are $5. Participants should bring a sack lunch and cold drink. Besides the event patch, the new patches for each of the four religious recognition programs are available and can be purchased for $3. Anyone who attended either of the 2003 events and has not received her patch will be given it at this time.

The annual retreat will be February 11-13 at Camp Casa Mare. Brownies and Juniors will gather on Saturday, February 12 from 9 a.m. until after the closing Mass at 4 p.m. Sixth grade Juniors who are bridging to Cadettes are invited to stay until noon on Sunday. Cadettes and Seniors should stay from 7 p.m. Friday until noon on Sunday.

Note: This event is not sponsored by Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council.

Colgate-Palmolive Company’s Youth for America Campaign honored Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council with a $100 fourth place prize for its service in making and distributing Learning Boards™ in partnership with WWW United, Inc.
“Your service work is clearly making a difference in your community and we hope that through this special recognition, your dedication and hard work will inspire others to get involved in their communities,” said Ian Cook, executive vice president for Colgate-Palmolive.

Girl Scout troops throughout the Council made small blackboards, called Learning Boards™ which are a lot like the slates used in the pioneer days. Troops across the Council also collected chalk and white socks (to be used as erasers) to accompany the boards. Using procedures developed jointly by both organizations, this project taught the girls new life skills, like sanding and painting, at the same time it increased their understanding of other cultures.
WWW United, Inc. is a non-profit charitable organization founded by Josanna B. Smith of Houston. Smith believes education is important for all children, no matter what country they live in, no matter how wealthy or poor they are. She also believes that if people reach out to people everywhere, the world will be a more peaceful place for all.

Learning Boards™, chalk, and white socks are distributed by WWW United, Inc. to schools in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq. With their lives disrupted by war, this project helps many children regain some

normalcy in a chaotic world. With the Learning Boards™ children who have no paper or pencil can learn to write and do arithmetic with the help of their teachers. WWW United, Inc. champions the tremendous need of supporting the reopening of the schools in post war Afghanistan and Iraq. GSSJC provided the bridge to hundreds of girls in troops by developing procedures and integrating the project into Girl Scout program activities.
Selected as one of the two Council-wide service projects, the Learning Boards™ provided an international avenue for girls to reach out further than their local community. As part of a worldwide organization, it is important for Girl Scouts to understand global issues, reaching out to those in need in other countries. Service is a cornerstone of the Girl Scout program and this project offered a unique way to help others that distinguished it from more standard collection drives. Troops reported that they loved sanding and painting the boards and that they were amazed when they learned that everyone did not go to school just like them with plenty of paper and pencils.

Word of the project spread throughout our community as people affiliated with Girl Scouting passed on their enthusiasm for making the Learning Boards™ Girl Scout leaders involved with private schools, local faith communities, Cub Scouts, and Boy Scouts embraced the project, allowing WWW United, Inc. to ship even more Learning Boards™ overseas.