Elise Wehr from Cedar Falls, Iowa, has achieved the Gold Award, the highest award a Girl Scout can earn, for creating and distributing comfort items and care kits to children in foster care.
When Elise discovered that most children in foster care didn’t have personal possessions like blankets, she stepped up to find a way to provide a small form of comfort during challenging moments.
“By working with children daily, I see just how important a blanket can be in a child's life. Foster children typically don't have that comfort item that most kids have,” Elise explains. “By creating these blankets, I ensured that they have something they can hold on to while going through hard times.”
Elise led a team of volunteers and provided 58 handmade blankets and 74 care kits with personal hygiene items to Cedar Valley Angels.
“My grandparents, parents, friends, significant other, sister, troop members, and aunts and uncles ALL helped me create blankets: 58 is a LOT of blankets to tie! There was no way I could've done it myself!”
Even her grandpa joined the efforts, collecting donated toothbrushes and toothpaste from his dentist to place in the care kits.
Through achieving the Gold Award, Elise provided local kids in foster care with an item made just for them during an uncertain time. Her passion for helping children is making an impact in the Cedar Valley.
“Girl Scouts paved an incredibly positive path for me!” she says. “The leadership skills I learned in Girl Scouts never left my mind, and I finally had a way to use them myself for something I was working towards. It was exciting to see my accomplishments!”
Gold Award
The Gold Award is the highest achievement a Girl Scout can earn, available to girls in high school who create sustainable change on a community or world issue. Gold Award Girl Scouts address the root cause of a problem, plan and implement innovative solutions to drive change, and lead a team of people to success. As they take action to transform their world, Gold Award Girl Scouts gain tangible skills and prove they are the leaders our community and the world need.
