Troop donates craft kits
The junior Girl Scouts of Liberty-based Troop 80055 donated craft kits Monday to Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley in Boardman. Pictured in the front row, from left, are Julia Sammartino, Rebecca Horn, Gwen Carlson, Zoe Franklin and London Hairston. In the back row, from left, are Brittany Horn, Kaylin Johnson and Kimberly McCann.
BOARDMAN
When 11-year- old London Hairston walked into Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley on Monday, she was a volunteer instead of a patient.
London, who has been cancer-free for about one year, and seven other junior Girl Scouts in Liberty-based Troop 80055 donated dozens of craft supplies to the hospital. As a result, all eight of them will receive the Bronze Award — the highest honor they can achieve as junior Scouts, said Kathy McCann, an assistant troop leader.
Troop members are Hairston; Gwen Carlson, 10; Zoe Franklin, 12; Brittany Horn, 12; Rebecca Horn, 10; Kaylin Johnson, 10; Kimberly McCann, 12; and Julia Sammartino, 12.
Troop leader Sheila Horn said the girls wanted to undertake a project to benefit children and organized the project on their own, from gathering donations to assembling the kits.
Kaylin collected the most donations for the kits and said she asked the congregation at Church Hill United Methodist Church in Liberty to help.
The craft kits include “door-knob hangers, activity books and bracelets,” Zoe said.
DeAnne Bunevich, child-life specialist at the hospital, wheeled a craft cart to the volunteer room and added the troop’s supplies. A sample product of each craft will hang from the cart, and if patients want to make a craft, for example a bracelet, a volunteer simply reaches inside the cart for a bag filled with all the parts needed to make a bracelet, she said.
“The kids look forward to it during the week. This is awesome. Thank you all for your hard work,” Bunevich told the troop.
But many in the troop said volunteering didn’t feel like work.
“It was fun helping because you know it will put a smile on their face,” Julia said.
And for London, it just felt like the right thing to do. “I was here a lot. I felt we could donate back,” London said.
Her mom, Bernadette Hairston, said the craft cart was a favorite pastime while London received treatment for leukemia, a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow, at the Boardman hospital.
“The craft cart helped her many a time. She just looked forward to it, and it lifted her spirits,” Hairston said.