A single troop of ninth graders has inspired seven other troops to write letters to nearly 300 residents living in all seven Oak Ridge senior living facilities during the COVID-19 shutdown.
Troop 20069 from Oak Ridge has visited Commonwealth Senior Living monthly for about four years. Since the shutdown in March, the activities director Angela Newberry suggested a pen pal project.
“You don’t know how much this means to us and our residents at this time,” she said, after the first batch of letters arrived.
Feeling inspired and encouraged by the response, troop leader Betsy Abernathy reached out to friend and Girl Scout leader Jerralynn Luckmann, who is in charge of service projects for their service unit. Together, they created a project called “Cards for Seniors” which encouraged all Oak Ridge troops to choose a senior living facility to send notes and letters to.
“I hope getting happy notes with hand-drawn pictures and cheerful greetings will help brighten the day of our elders, many of whom are very isolated right now since even their family members can’t visit. But just as strongly, I hope that the girls who participate will feel a little less scared about what’s going on because there are concrete things they can do to help,” said Abernathy.
This is just one example of Girl Scouts across our council and the nation giving back during this time of COVID-19, such as sewing masks, building food pantries and donating care packages. Since cookie booths have been suspended, cookies can be donated through GSCSA’s digital cookie booth to first responders, healthcare workers and senior facility residents at www.girlscoutcsa.org/findcookies.
Brooke Conner is social media and content coordinator for Girl Scouts of the Southern Appalachians.