A PLACE TO BELONG,
EVEN WHEN LIFE HURTS
What does it feel like when your world falls apart around you? When everything you once
knew seems upside down and backwards? It hurts -- really hurts, deep down inside.
Unfortunately young girls are not immune to this kind of upheaval -- families break apart,
the sudden death of a parent, abuse, disease, floods and fires. These are the realities our
girls struggle with.
When life hurts, Girl Scouts lean on each other.
Girl Scouts in Northern Colorado displaced from their homes by last fall’s devastating
floodwaters, found solace in getting together with their troop mates to pick berries.
Other Boulder area troops put their leadership skills to work to help replenish damaged
books at their former elementary school.
A Brownie troop i n metro Denver rallied around their sister Girl Scout when her
mother died and her family struggled in grief and shock. Her world upside down, the
Brownie found some normalcy and glimmers of joy in being with her troop.
When a Northern Colorado Girl Scout Senior’s sister was sexually assaulted, she
summoned her courage and enlisted her Girl Scout leadership training to help fight the
problem of sexual assault on college campuses. For her Gold Award, she developed a
self-defense class to keep others from becoming a victim of assault.
“I made a difference because I acted,” she wrote. “I did not sweep it under the rug or cover
it up with shame.”
An 11-year-old Girl Scout from Colorado Springs who has an autoimmune disease that
caused her to lose her hair had her confidence