Photo credit: Clare Riina

By Steve Sears

When Long Valley Girl Scout troop 95641 member Sophia Vikin noticed that the garden table at Hunterdon County’s Little Brook Nursing & Convalescent Home (www.littlebrooknursinghome.com) was very old and rotting away, she saw a great project in the making, and knew it was time to take some positive action.

And for good reason. The result was a win-win for all. A brand new, wheelchair accessible garden table for Little Brook residents to enjoy, and a Girl Scout Silver Award for Vikin and other members of her troop, recognizing their care for the community. The troop leaders are Clare Riina and Omar Vikin, and the members are Abigail Riina, who has been in troop 95641 for nine years; Olivia Biondolillo, a member for only a year but a girl scout for many years; Sara Hall, who has been in the troop for nine years; and Vikin, herself a member for five years. All four girls are between the ages of 13 and 14 and are in the 8th grade at Long Valley Middle School, and will enter West Morris Central High School as freshmen in the fall.

A brief explanation of the Girl Scout Silver Award and steps to achieve it. First, the troop must identify an issue they care about, build their Girl Scout Silver Award team, search the community to find a potential project and then select it, develop a plan for the project, and then put the plan it into motion. When the project is complete, the group then reflects on it, shares the story, and celebrates its completion.

Little Brook Nursing Home & Convalescent Center, located at 78 Sliker Road in Califon, was the spot and project of choice, and Biondolillo explains the process from start to finish. In addition to themselves, they had some key allies who lent a hand. “After we got our idea for the wheelchair accessible garden table,” she says, “we asked Sara Hall if her dad could help us build it since he is a cabinet maker.” The harsh winter season and the Covid-19 pandemic were impediments for a period, but the girls and Sara’s dad found dates that they all could work together towards the end of winter and early spring to build the table. “Then we finished the table May 8th and the residents could use it May 9th,” says Biondolillo happily.

“Another important person to add is Al from Home Depot, because he donated all the supplies that we needed,” adds Biondolillo, recognizing a key donation from the business community.

Vikin adds enthusiastically, “The table makes the residents very happy, and it gives them more activities to do.”

The new wheelchair accessible garden table is the lone project Girl Scout troop 95641 has completed this year, and they are now pondering a future Girl Scout Gold Award project. 

For more information about the Girl Scouts and their services and awards, visit www.girlscouts.org.