Earlier this week I met with Mrs. Clayton from the American Cancer Society. 

After discussing the services the ACS has to offer she told me about an event they were having called "Stars of Hope." This event was to benefit the American Cancer Society of Evansville's Relay for Life. 

Here's a video about the experience I had. Hope you enjoy! 

Today I took a tour of the Humane Society!

I learned so much about all that they have to offer. There were a ton of great animals to see. There's a lot of work put into this organization everyday and I'm so happy that our community has the opportunity to have a place like this. 

I've included the link to their website as well as a video I took while I was there. Whether you are wanting to donate, volunteer, or adopt, the VHS is a place I would highly recommend helping!
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Hey everyone!

In the month of February I will be completing acts of kindness to wrap up my Girl Scout Gold Award. 

The first project I've done is making Valentine cards for a local nursing home! I do this every year. It really helps the residents and they love it so much. 

This year my friends even came over to help make some cards! They turned out beautiful. 

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
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Hey everyone!

In the month of January I decided to help the military!

First of all, I met with Cherie Leonhardt at the University of Evansville to talk about my options. She deals with Veteran's affairs at the college. While talking she told me that there was a meeting coming up where a ton of people from all kinds of military related organizations meet to discuss what they're up to. This was the perfect opportunity for me!

In the midst of all this happening I began to do one of my favorite projects that I've ever done. Last year was such a success that I had to try and send packages overseas again. This year was even better than last year! I had so many donations. 

There are many people that I have to thank for making this project such a success. 

*Kelly Birkhead
*Tiffany Hassebrock
*Chad and Nicole Setzekorn
*Brandi Scheller and Easter Seals
*Madi Liggett
*Kristina DiDomizio
*Kiahra Klinghagen and Family 
*Steve and Lori Harriss
*First Apostolic Church of Centralia

I'm so grateful for all the help with this. I couldn't have done it without the overwhelming love and support. 

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Yes, that's right. No, I didn't make a mistake with the title.

Today I volunteered at cMoe, the Children's Museum of Evansville! This place is the coolest. There are so many great exhibits and things for the children to play on and learn from. 

They held one of their biggest events of the year today. They call it the Noon Years Eve event. Kids are free to come in and play all day. Then, at noon sharp, they have a countdown. When the clock strikes 12, p.m., they drop a ball and a ton of confetti on top of all the customers downstairs. It was amazing! The kids loved it and had so much fun. I face painted for the majority of the day. Although I'm not the greatest face painter in the world... I certainly did my best!

If you aren't able to volunteer for cMoe when you'd really like to, you can always still bring your family! They have other events throughout the year and are always open for learning and fun! I had a great time helping and I strongly encourage others to do the same. 

Today my mom, my friend amber and I went to the Ronald McDonald House to serve breakfast. 

The Ronald McDonald house is a great organization that solves a need in a lot of places throughout the country. When you hear Ronald McDonald you probably think of the big man with the funny red nose. Although he is the face for this organization, there is so much more to learn about. 

This place houses families with sick children. Consider this... Your child is very sick and has to go to the hospital a lot. You have to worry about their health, your family's wellbeing, paying medical expenses, and the list goes on. The Ronald McDonald house provides a free living space for these people so that they have one less thing to worry about. It's a huge weight off their shoulders.

On top of this wonderful program, they have groups of people come in to make meals for the families so they have even less to worry about. Anyone can sign up to come in and cook. We chose to serve breakfast and made a casserole and muffins and brought fruit and juice. It was great to see the smiles on their faces, especially since they are going through some rough times! If you're looking for somewhere to volunteer, this is definitely a good place to start!

The next organization I am helping this month is... The Dream Center!

This place is so cool! They help kids after school, kind of like the Boys and Girls Club. I got the privilege of helping with their Christmas party event. This was amazing!

I showed up and was given a table to help. The kids and their families came in and sat down and waited for the evening to begin. They got to eat a dinner together and hear a guest speaker as they ate. I really enjoyed getting to know the kids at my table and their family. They were so excited for Christmas! 

After dinner was done the real fun started. Each kid got to pick a toy from the two sets of bleachers in the front of the gym. There were so many toys that got donated. As you can see in the pictures below the gifts ranged from build a bears, board games, basketballs, jewelry making kits, dolls, scooters, and so much more. 

After that each family got a large bag of gifts that they had requested throughout the year for their families, if I remember correctly. They gave out a ton of bikes, too. 

I was very happy to be a part of such a wonderful event. If you're looking for a place to help, the Dream Center accepts volunteers, and not just for this event! 

Today and yesterday I kicked off December by volunteering at the Boys and Girls club. December is the month that I will be helping children! 

Both days I helped with "Homework Help." The kids came in and I sat with them and helped them complete their homework. I also got to talk and hangout with them when they were done. 

It was such a pleasure to work with these kids. They are capable of so much and they're so loving! It was neat to see that the Boys and Girls Club offers so much more than just a gym for the kids to play in, which is generally what people tend to think of when they hear the name. There are a ton of ways that people can volunteer as well. You can even use your own talents and interests to come up with ideas to share with the kids!

Here are a few pictures we took, after we were done with homework of course. These silly munchkins loved to take pictures and laugh!

Hello!

Today I volunteered for Goodwill! This is an organization we all have at least heard of at some point. They do so much for the community so I knew I had to help them out! 

On the 20th I came and helped stuff bags for the people signing up for the race. We put flyers and informational things in them so the runners would know exactly what to do come race day. I found out that they needed help today too!

Today was packet pick up day. All the people who had pre registered came out to get their information. We found which packet was theirs, passed out t-shirts, and helped people register others that were a bit late. It was a fun day, and I even got my picture taken with the famous turkey! 

Gobble Gobble! Today my friend Sarah and I went to the Evansville Rescue Mission to volunteer at the Gobbler Gathering! This is one of my favorite events in the area and I've done it for four years now. 

Here's how it works. People apply to be accepted to the event. Once they come they go through a church service and then they are sent to the main tent. This is where I've always helped! They go through a huge assembly line where they are given a FULL Thanksgiving dinner! When I say full I mean it. They are given so much food, including a whole turkey at the end! This year Sarah and I were in charge of potatoes. When they walked by us we put an entire bag of potatoes in their cart and sent them on their way to get celery. 

As I said this is one of my favorite events to help at. It is amazing to see the faces of the people because they are so grateful for everything. Next year if you get the chance to help, I fully recommend it!