Danielle Weiler has received the highest award in Girl Scouting, the coveted Gold Award. The daughter of Teresa and Jerome Weiler, Danielle has been a Girl Scout for 13 years, starting as a Daisy Girl Scout in Kindergarten and continuing through Brownie, Junior, Cadette, Senior, and Ambassador Girl Scouts.
In order to earn the Gold Award, Danielle embarked upon a year-long project working with Martin Moeller at Moeller Funeral Home. She has made activity bags for young boys and girls to use while visiting the funeral home. “The young children become quickly bored while staying at the funeral home during the wake or funeral of a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or other family member. These activity bags include crayons, coloring books, small toys, and other items to keep the children busy during the long hours,” explained Danielle.
There are many steps in order to complete the Gold Award Project. Danielle had to develop the concept of her project and present it to the Girl Scout Council Gold Award Committee. During this interview Danielle had to explain what the goal of her project was, how she planned to implement it, who her mentors were, and how it will be maintained in the future. After receiving approval from the committee, Danielle then solicited donations of materials needed to create the activity bags. Using donated fabric, Danielle made a number of sample bags and then organized a workshop where Junior and Cadette Girl Scouts sewed the bags together. Then the bags were filled with age-appropriate supplies for boys or girls. Moeller Funeral Home has been using 5-6 bags per month with a goal of having at least 100 bags made for future use. The project from start to finish must total at least 80 hours.
Danielle was presented her Gold Award on Sunday, May 19, 2013 at the annual Girl Scout Recognition Event in Valparaiso. Her troop leader, Beth Baker, made the presentation.