Last Friday, over 50 adorable Girl Scouts, from 3rd grade to 5th, joined together to create a Talent Showcase to raise money for the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation. These young girls bravely performed 27 different acts for a packed audience. The girls planned, organized and coordinated the entire night with the oldest girls as the mentors and MCs. There was a bake sale in the back of the theater and a raffle throughout the show, including the grand raffle prize of an iPad, which is fitting with the troop wanting the funds they raised to go toward Project Mariposa, theGSF's iPad support program. Some sang solos, a few danced, one group hula hooped, another group used cups as drums, there was a talented piano player, and several came up with entire comedy skits — all of them had the audience smiling and proud of what these young girls were doing to give back — including Gwendolyn.
In fact, Gwendolyn was riveted throughout the show and it was so clear that it meant so much to the girls to have her there. Gwendolyn absolutely loved that each of the girls came up to greet her and ask her if she liked the performances, and by the end of the night almost all 50 of the girls sat on the floor surrounding Gwendolyn.
“I really liked seeing the smile on Gwendolyn’s face,” said 11-year-old Hannah Meyer.
“We don’t really need the money as much as (people in need) do,” said her fellow scout, Madison Jaimes, 10. “It put a smile on my face seeing Gwendolyn smile.”
“It makes you feel special to feel like you’re helping someone else,” said 11-year-old scout Claire Konen.
Kids helping kids, learning philanthropy at such a young age, knowing they are helping to make someone else's life a little bit easier — you can't get much better than that. And these awesome girls have truly made a difference, raising $3,176 for theGSF's Project Mariposa. Incredible.
We are truly blown away by how Gwendolyn's elementary school, Washington Elementary, has embraced our family and the SMA cause, and especially how they treat Gwendolyn like one of the kids. All of these girls, though much older than Gwendolyn, gleefully run over whenever they see Gwendolyn at school. They say hello, compliment what she is wearing or notice her nail polish that day. It means the world to Gwendolyn. It never ceases to amaze us how loving and kind the Washington community continues to be — and seeing Gwendolyn so happy means the world to us.
Thank you Washington Elementary Girl Scouts. You are incredible! And we are grateful!
Click to read the Noozhawk article about the event HERE.