Girl Scouts of Western New York is proud to announce Alivia Scheible as a 2025 Gold Award Girl Scout.

Project: Activity Libraries for St. Ann’s Community

I learned about the multiple different needs of a local elder care community at a volunteer fair that I attended last summer. After looking into their needs, I found a project that best suited my creativity and organizational skills. I worked with members of the community, collecting supplies and building activity kits for a brand-new activity library at St. Ann’s home in Webster. St. Ann’s Community has both a memory care center and a skilled nursing facility. I designed my activities to be safe for elders with dementia. It was also important that kits that could be wiped down and disinfected between use. My initial goal was to put an activity library on 2 of the 8 floors. Because of generous donations from both the local VFW and the Morris F. Tyler Chapter New Vision Pioneers, I was able to put activity libraries in all 8 sections of the care center. Each library has 5-6 activity bins. With the help of the life enrichment team, we also created a traveling activity cart that can be shared throughout the community. During the installation of the libraries, I was able to show some of the residents how to use the kits. The activity library is available to families when they come to visit their loved ones, and the traveling activity cart allows families to find various games, crafts, and enrichment activities to enjoy together. Through my Gold Award Project, I created a total of 69 activity kits, with 12 different types of activities. The activities included: I-spy bottles, reusable painting kits, puzzles, different types of building activities, coloring bins, card making with stamps, various sorting games, felt board tic tac toe, and word games using jumbo letter tiles. My activity library was very well received by staff, and it was exciting to see it be used by the residents. The volunteer coordinator that I worked with was surprised and thankful for the large number of kits that I was able to assemble. The new activity library was “advertised” to the patient’s families in the St. Ann’s correspondence, so family members can look for the new bins. I also created colorful signage to draw attention to the new space. Something I found meaningful was that I had the resources to put activity bins on every floor. The scope of my project was larger than I had initially anticipated and allowed me to reach all the resident floors in the community. I am hopeful that the variety of activities will speak to the many different types of residents who live at St. Ann’s. Since its installation, I have received feedback and thank you notes, saying that the libraries are an asset to the community and are being enjoyed by the residents.

About the Girl Scout Gold Award

The Gold Award project is the culmination of all the work a girl puts into “going for the Gold.” A Girl Scout’s project should be something that a girl can be passionate about—in thought, deed, and action that encompasses organizational, leadership, and networking skills. The project should also fulfill a need within a girl’s community (whether local or global) and create change that has the potential to be on-going or sustainable. Approximately 80 hours of community service are involved in the project. Completion of the Gold Award also qualifies the Girl Scout for special scholarship opportunities and she can enlist in the military at a higher starting pay grade. The Girl Scout Gold Award, the most prestigious award in the world for girls, acknowledges the power behind each recipient’s dedication to not only empowering and bettering herself, but also to making the world a better place for others. These young women are courageous leaders and visionary change makers. The Gold Award requires a Girl Scout to identify an issue and investigate it to understand what can be done to address the problem. The girl then forms a team to act as a support system, including a project advisor close to the issue who is not a troop leader or family member, while she leads the project. The Girl Scout creates a plan to ensure they know what steps they must tackle while working on the project. The Girl Scout submits a proposal for her project to her local Girl Scout council. After acceptance, the girl begins to work through the steps of their plan utilizing the assistance of her support team where necessary. Lastly, the project is used to educate and inspire others about the cause they are addressing. For more information on the Gold Award,  click here.