A group of 10 Girl Scouts from Scranton Middle School and their adult leaders were given Shining Star awards at a recent Brighton Board of Education meeting.

The girls from Melissa Gay’s Girl Scout troop were honored at the Sept. 23rd board meeting, along with Hilton school teacher Mary Durbin Beane, whose idea it was to do the project. The Girl Scouts were looking for an Outreach project to help someone in need, and Beane came up with the idea of cleaning up the extensive, but unkempt, gardens and grounds of The Gilbert Residence - a 501(c)(3) assisted living facility with memory care and nursing care - located on the banks of the Huron River in Ypsilanti. Beane was familiar with the facility since her father, John, was a resident, and she had been painfully aware that their grounds were in bad shape because their groundskeeper had been unable to work for some time. Beane tells WHMI the girls came on Sept. 8th, together with their siblings and families, and were busy as bees, weeding, trimming, pruning, mulching, sweeping and planting flowers.

Beane says in the days and weeks after they completed the work, Gilbert officials observed that many more residents and their families were using the outdoor space than before, which makes the Girl Scouts and their leaders feel their efforts were worth it.

Although her father had Alzheimer’s Disease, Beane didn’t really know how close he was to death until Oct. 4th, when the family was given word that he had passed away. She said the Girl Scout project wasn’t meant as a way of saying goodbye to her father, but regards it as possibly not coincidence that it happened that way. She adds that she’s “happy the Girl Scouts were able to provide that gift to hundreds of families.”

The Gilbert Residence has honored the Girl Scout troop from Brighton with their picture and accomplishment on the cover of their October newsletter. Beane says the Girl Scouts will continue the relationships they’ve established with The Gilbert Residence and will come back next spring to do some more grounds and gardens cleanup work and planting of flowers. (TT)