Four Fox High School freshmen, Bridget Angus, Jessica Huck, Alexis Maly and Krista Waldron – recently completed a community service project and earned the Girl Scout Silver Award, according to Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri.
The girls are members of Girl Scout Troop 2033, based in Arnold. For their project, the girls worked with Helping Hands and Horses, an equine therapy program designed to help children with special needs.
While the four girls were in middle school, they volunteered some time with the Helping Hands and Horses program and decided to continue working there for their Silver Award project, creating some new activities for children participating in the program.
The Silver Award is the highest one for Girl Scout Cadettes – a scouting program for girls in grades six through eight, the organization reported.
The girls worked on the community service project for eight months, completing it in September, when they earned the award, the Girl Scouts reported.
They used funds raised during last year’s Girl Scout cookie drive to help fund the project. Then, each of the girls worked individually and as a team to create new items for the equine therapy program designed to help children better improve their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, the report said.
Bridget created a latch board with different types of latches and ties to help riders work on their fine motor skills. Jessica designed and created a puzzle board with different shapes to be placed into slots in the board. Alexis made a Bimini activity pole – a T-shaped pole, featuring hooks and rings hanging from strings, that allows riders to improve their gross motor skills while balancing on a horse. Krista created wind chimes of various lengths and colors that allow riders to create different sounds, according to the report.
Krista, who also created a video to help promote the Helping Hands and Horses program, said not only did the children in the program appreciate the items she and her fellow Girl Scouts made, but also the girls found the project satisfying.
“It meant the world to the riders at Helping Hands and Horses,” she said. “Until you witness it with your own eyes, it’s nearly impossible to describe the magic of helping somebody and seeing the results your work has produced.”
Troop leader Tracey Waldron said she was impressed with the girls’ work.
“They spent many hours on this project over the past eight months working independently and as a team,” she said. “They continue to inspire me with their kind hearts, smart and creative minds and all-around awesome personalities.”
