Our Girl Scouts Daisy Troop: Building Friendships and Serving Community

For Tracy Torres, fond memories of being a Girl Scout as a child prompted her to start a Daisy troop with her daughter for the young girls of St. Joseph School. When the group started in the fall, six girls were taking part — now there are 14.

“I was a Girl Scout growing up,” Tracy says. “I have so many great memories from this great program that it was something I wanted for my girls as well.”

The troop meets every other Monday and also participates in events and activities as they are able. The life lessons that these children are learning through this program are invaluable for not only teaching them but also growing them to be better Christians.

Daisies participate in many activities to earn their “petals,” the building blocks of service and knowledge. To earn their “petals,” the girls must participate in different activities corresponding to each theme. These activities have included learning to make maple syrup, learning Jujutsu self-defense, making pizzas and delivering them to others, and making Valentine’s Day cards that they gave to the Sprenger nursing home in Lorain. The troop collected over 100 coats for the coat drive this year as well as collecting over 100 bags of food for the food drive.

The troop brought in coolers of water bottles and handed them out to the runners for St. Joseph’s Trojan Trot. They also made signs and cheered on the runners during the race.

An important part of learning to care for others is taking initiative in deciding who they want to serve and how. As the girls raise funds for different activities, together they decide who they want to help with these funds.

“This year, they decided that they wanted to help dogs and police officers,” Tracy says. “So we came up with a couple of service opportunities for them to do that. They collected blankets and toys to donate to the new animal hospital. They also donated about $350 to the canine unit to provide safety kits and badges to the dogs. They got to go and watch the officers and dogs do their training runs.”

Despite the late start in the fall, the girls earned all of their Daisy “petals” this year. They are currently working on a big project to obtain a parcel of land to use for a garden to sell and donate produce. Six of the girls in the Daisy troop will bridge from Daisies to Brownies this year.

“Girl Scouts is about tradition,” Tracy says. “These young girls learn to serve their community and make the world a better place. They learn to respect themselves and others. It is about fun and friendship and caring for others.”

Those interested in learning more about the Girl Scout troops at St. Joseph may contact Tracy Torres at torrestracy36@yahoo.com or 440-420-3235.