INPERSON
Handing Out Happiness
WJH Girl Scout Troop focuses on Project SmiLES for South Hills Meals on Wheels clients .
BY W . B . FRESA
PHOTOS BY DARCY VERGALLITO
Members of Girl Scout Troop 54219 make holiday cards for Meals on Wheels recipients .
Today , most people would send a text or email if they were looking to brighten someone ’ s day . It may even contain a smiley face emoji . But what passed for making someone feel special not so long ago came in the form of homemade cards . It may seem old-fashioned and maybe a little time-consuming , but for some folks in the South Hills , it ’ s the cool breeze on a hot day they ’ ve needed , and they have Girl Scout Ashley Werner and Troop Leader Darcy Vergallito to thank .
Earlier this year , several members of West Jefferson Hills Girl Scout Troop 54219 were preparing to earn their Silver Award and approached their troop leader for help . “ I told them to investigate some charities they found interesting and pick one they were passionate about ,” said Vergallito . “ Ashley chose Meals on Wheels ( MOW ) and it has turned into a special project for a terrific community service .”
After meeting with Pam Mason , CEO , site coordinator and cook for South Park Meals on Wheels , which serves clients from South Park to Bethel Park and many points in between , Ashley , a freshman at Thomas Jefferson High School , soon realized many of the organization ’ s clients frequently become lonely due to lack of nearby family and friends to visit or check on them . So for a Silver Award project , she chose to encourage people in her community to think about others and send happiness to them in the form of cards made from paper and crayons .
“ I decided to help Meals on Wheels because there were so many lonely people who have never received anything special ,” explains Ashley . “ I wanted to make them happy because many of them do not have family or friends locally like others do .” She created the holiday card project called Project SmiLES ( Sending my Love Every Season ) to distribute to MOW clients on special holidays throughout 2016 and 2017 , in hopes of improving the clients ’ well-being .
“ Project SMiLES is a lesson in seeing what one small idea can turn into ,” said Ashley . “ We went from talking about it at a coffee shop in February to handing out cards to actual clients in August . We hope to inspire others to do good and also believe in their ability to do good .”
The special holidays that Project SmiLES recognizes include National Watermelon Day , Teddy Bear Day , Halloween , Thanksgiving , Christmas , New Year ’ s Day , Valentine ’ s Day , St . Patrick ’ s Day , Easter , Memorial Day , Flag Day and Fourth of July . It has also been able to celebrate birthdays for some MOW clients .
To ensure she had enough cards to serve all of MOW ’ s clients , Ashley began by contacting local Girl Scout Service Units from the South Hills and surrounding communities and asked for their assistance with the project . The goal was to make enough cards for each client to receive one per month but a minimum of six to cover each of the major holidays recognized throughout the year .
However , she found that creating enough cards for a year for the 75 clients in the South Park MOW program is a daunting task . So she started a marketing campaign to get the word out about her project and enlisted as many volunteers as possible to meet her card-making goal .
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