Alpha House Improvement Project
the problem:
I am trying to solve several problems including sex education, health, and the environment. For my Girl Scout Gold Award I am starting a project at Alpha House, a place in my community where women can stay and find help during and after crisis pregnancies, to plant new plants in 7 flower boxes in order to help the new mothers and expecting women realize the importance of taking care of the environment and themselves by creating a relaxing atmosphere through nature and gardening.
vital stats:
people impacted:
15people involved:
1why it's important:
This is very important to me because I have a friend who had a baby at a very early age. The father is out of the picture and with better sex education this could have been prevented, but now that her adorable baby has been brought into this world, I want to help girls in the same situation as her feel self empowered by bringing the joy of nature into their and their babies' lives in order to help them and the environment.
the plan of action:
I have already removed all of the old plants in the flower boxes at Alpha House. I am going to get soil, plant new plants, clean and paint the outside of the flower boxes, and fix up several rooms inside Alpha House. I've raised $150 by cleaning my neighbor's new pool for two weeks. This money will most likely go towards paint that I'm going to purchase for fixing up the flower boxes and a few girls' rooms at Alpha House in order to make their lives a little more pleasant. After this project is complete, the girls at Alpha House, who are required to perform chores around the house in exchange for their stay, will be able to take turns watering the plants. I've already presented my project to my Key Club at school and gotten volunteers to help me paint the rooms on November 22, 2009. Other volunteers will help me paint and plant on other dates. So that this project will be able to function without me when it is complete, each year the Key Club will come to Alpha House to fix up the flower boxes. The girls at Alpha House will also play a very large role in this project because it is all for them. They have helped me come up with several ideas and will vote on which plants they would most like to see in the boxes. I am also planning a ceremony for these girls in which I will thank them for their help and present them with a book about the importance of nature in relaxation to create a stress-free environment for them and their children and also the importance of planting flowers and plants to help produce more oxygen for us and to help eliminate carbon dioxide in the air.
how you can get involved:
The women at Alpha House, my Girl Scout troop #44, and volunteers from the Key Club at my school will all be essential in helping me help my community by accomplishing this project.
