As Assistant Cubmaster of Pack 33 in Takoma Park, MD and the Program Person for Girl Scouts Service Unit 34-8 (that encompasses something like 60 troops), I planned the Sligo Creek Clean Up for them to do together. It is nice to show that Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts can work together!
Pack 33 & the Girl Scout Troops in Service Unit 34-8, encompasses families from the Takoma Park, Silver Spring, Hyattsville areas of Maryland and also, families like mine from Washington DC.
The Sligo Creek Clean Up is an event that Pack 33 does annually. Which as the name of the event implies is helping to clean up the creek, called Sligo Creek. It's one of the main creeks in the area and covers a good distance. Every year, Friends of Sligo Creek works with Pack 33, as well as with the community as a whole, to get people of all ages out to help clean up the creeks. I went ahead of time to pick up supplies for the day ahead of time on the way to soccer practice for my older son. Now, since I was heading the event and the kids went downstream so fast in excitement, I regret not getting more pictures but thankful that Allie, one of my parents, took some for me! (Thanks love).
Points of the Girl Scout and Boy Scout Law represented here:
"Make the World a Better Place"
"Use Resources Wisely"
"Help Other People At All Times"
"Helpful"
"Friendly"
"Kind"
"Clean"
Honour your scout, Pack or Troop --> "Scout of the Day" Sign Ups are Here!!
It really is like a treasure hunt of many sorts.
The amazing part about this creek is that there were NO streets directly around the creek and...
... * dramatic pause for effect * ...
PINTEREST LOVE!!
... We found almost a full set of tires, different sizes of course, in different places of the creek. So if you are looking for some tires... * just kidding, don't do that *.
On another note, I would like to ask how those got down there...hmmm? Maybe someone tried using it as an intertube, but that would be a very bad idea. Or it came from another part of the creek where it was parallel to the parkway where there are many cars every day.
Also, the kids found what they thought was a railroad tie, but one of the mums, who does metalworking, said that it was a 19th-century decorative piece, likely to a business or house. She took it back with her to clean it up and study it further. I can't wait to see how it looks afterwards. She even showed me (and some other scouts) the difference of why it wasn't related to the railroad.
See!! You can find cool treasures there!
Not a treasure? A parent finding glass at the playground. Or trash right outside a trashcan. It's sad that people don't have more respect for the nature and world around them. But I am glad that the scout families were there to make it a little more safer for everyone.
It was so much fun to see & HEAR THE EXCITEMENT of the scouts to jump into the creek.
My tiger son decided that cleaning the creek wasn't enough... he wanted to swim a bit in it too. Haha. And anyone that knows him knows this is so not a surprise. He wore half the creek to his soccer game that followed and then to a park day. A day well worn. And he had to wear his cleats as shoes the next day because his shoes were still super soaked. Haha.
TWITTER LOVE
⚜️Scouts of the Day: @thecubscouts of @NCACBSA & @girlscouts of @GSCNC did Clean Up @MontgomeryParks Sligo Creek Together⚜️— All About Scouts! (@allaboutscouts) April 30, 2018
🌳↪️https://t.co/bTOuWYBRCC↩️🌳@Friends_SligoCr #LeaveNoTrace #allaboutscouts #sligocreek #CommunityService #MondayMotivation #scoutoftheday pic.twitter.com/pnXn0dhsvx
The Tigers earned their Leave No Trace award which we had been working on all year long. And others have likely earned requirements for their rank or journey award as well. Plus, they earned a patch!
So thank you, Friends of Sligo Creek, for providing the gloves and bags and helping to do the pick up so we can get scouts out to do more clean up of the community.
After 2 hours, and 50 people later, (which equals 104 hours of community service total) we let the kids play at the playground afterwards while we were finishing up. And you know it is a cool project when the kids ask when they are getting to do this again! Both Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts.
Possible Future Opportunity for NPS Resource Stewardship Scout Ranger Award!
A few of the leaders were talking with me and asking me about the Presidental Program and since that is harder to be able to get approved to be someone who can do the hours sign off, it occurred to me that something that takes less time but would still be great for all the scouting groups to earn, which is the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Cub Scouts to earn would be the National Park Service Resource Stewardship Scout Ranger program.
So of course, driving home, the National Park Service was doing an event across from the Fort Totten Metro station, so I naturally did a U-turn and went and talked to them about the idea of doing this for the pack and service unit.
What was great is that to earn it, they told me they could attend ranger events, do community service, and even better yet, that doing things like Sligo Creek Clean Up (even though not a NPS site) totally counted.
So now, I am going to figure out and keep in touch with the NPS person to make it possible for me to sign off on hours and officially be an NPS volunteer for the sole purpose of getting scouts out more and doing more of these projects together-- and if they are already doing it, to have it count towards the award that they likely are already earning!
As a leader, I am happy to see any scouts getting outside, having fun, and helping nature-- all at the same time! So I am thrilled to call them Scouts of the Day today!
FACEBOOK LOVE!!
Until next time- Have a BEAUTIFUL WEEK & GET OUTSIDE!
Honour your scout, Pack or Troop --> "Scout of the Day" Sign Ups are Here!!
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