XENIA — A group of Warner Middle School Girl Scouts are helping the homeless and earning an award at the same time.
Eighth graders Rhonda Green, Allison Dabe and Allison Carl and seventh grader Abigail Dabe made Halloween costumes and some goodie bags for kids and adults at a local shelter. In doing so, they will earn their Silver Award, the highest award a scout can receive, once they present their project to their troop, No. 30039.
The idea came from Abigail Dabe, the only seventh grader in the group.
“I just love Halloween and I thought it would be fun to sew and make Halloween costumes for kids,” she said.
Sister Allison then brought the group together.
“(Abigail) told me at first and I spread it to my friends,” she said. “We thought it would be a good idea to do it together.”
The costumes and goodie bags, which include candy for kids and grooming items for the adults, will be delivered during a Halloween party Friday at the shelter. The goodie bags were made out of pillow cases so those utilizing the shelter would have them when they move into a permanent place to live. The quartet visited the shelter and met some of the people staying there, which made the project a little more personal to them.
“I could actually see them, (it) felt more giving,” Green said.
Added Allison Dabe, “You can give things to people they don’t ever have. (And) I love kids.”
The premise behind the Silver Award is for the scouts to work in small groups, spending about 40 to 50 hours to complete a project that will impact the community. Abigail Dabe came up with the idea last September and the group became totally involved over the summer.
They acquired the most of the material on their own. But they received donations from area dentists Burt Hagler and Gordon Womack and Clark’s Pharmacy.
“A lot of it came from our own money,” Carl said. (But) It makes people happy.”
The costumes include Batman capes for boys and princess capes and tutus for girls. They also made bibs for the infants. In all the scouts made 15 costumes for ages that range from infants to 12-years-old.
The girls spent as many as eight hours a days sewing with a machine and by hand.
“I knew how to sew a little bit beforehand,” Allison Dabe said. “It was really hard pinning them.”
Part of the presentation of the project — titled The Halloween Fiasco — requires the girls to share what they learned. All seemed to agree they learned a little about homelessness and a little about sewing.
“(I learned) I could do such a big project,” Green said. “It was fun.”
The group also made sure to credit adult helpers Tonya Dabe, Elaine Brenaman and Paula Crow.
