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MANVILLE: Celebrating Girl Scouting’s birthday

By Mary Ellen Zangara, Special Writer
   Girl Scouts from around the world celebrated Girl Scout Week from March 8-13 with events and activities commemorating the birthday of founder Juliet Low and Scouting’s 97th birthday.
   Juliette “Daisy” Gordon Low assembled 18 girls from Savannah, Ga., on March 12, 1912, for a local Girl Scout meeting. From that day, girls from all over have joined this organization being a Girl Scout.
   Manville Scouts took part in a few days of the celebration beginning with a mass on March 8th for Girl Scout Sunday at Sacred Heart Church. About 20 girls and leaders attended the mass followed by coffee social in the CCD building.
   Scout Leader Dawn Tomaselli and Troop 558 hosted an evening of candy bingo March 9 at the Adesa Auto Auctions offices. The Scouts had the option to do anything that they wanted and, since candy bingo was very popular, they went with it.
   ”We have done it (candy bingo) in the past and the kids seem to enjoy it and we decided to do it again,” said Ms. Tomaselli. The girls used Smarties candies as markers on their bingo cards and won candy as prizes. Ms. Tomaselli was expecting about 60 girls to play bingo.
   The weeklong celebration ended on Friday, with a Girl Scout Birthday Party.
   ”We are having a birthday party with traditional birthday things like a piñata, face painting, tattoos, balloon games and nail clinic as we end Girl Scout week,” said leader Maria Stadtmueller.
   During each event, the girls brought donations for Easter Baskets for the Girls Beyond Bars, a service project for the Girl Scout council. From the council information in 1995, Girl Scouts of Rolling Hills Council pioneered Girl Scouting Beyond Bars (GSBB), a nationally recognized program targeting young women whose mothers are incarcerated at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Clinton, New Jersey’s only correctional facility for women serving sentences of a year or more.
   Program participants come from Essex, Union and Mercer counties. Girl Scouting Beyond Bars provides enhanced visitation for inmate mothers and their daughters ages 5 to 17, reducing the trauma of separation.
   Beyond exposing girls to Girl Scouting’s traditional values and informal education, the program offers parenting skills for mothers. The program aims to enhance family bonds and give at-risk youth a better chance to beat the odds.