Community Service, the Fun Way!

by Acacia, 11, California

A lot of people think that community service is really boring. Well, I'm here to give you some ideas on how to do community service the fun way.

What is community service? Community service is when you help your street, city, county, country, and sometimes even the world. Community service can be fun. Your troop will have some laughs and have a good time.

Finding something to do that will be fun is sometimes hard, but when you do find that thing you'll probably want to do it again. Here are some fun projects that our troop has done:

• Go to a retirement home and visit with the residents. You can ask them questions about when they were young. That's also a good way to learn history.
• Go to a park that needs fixing up, go clean up the trash and clean off the swings and sitting areas.

The next thing you do after you pick what you want to do is plan. For example, say you want to go and read at a retirement home, then you need to get a list of retirement homes and call them until you find someone who will let you come. Ask them what kinds of books the residents like. Go to the library and check out those kinds of books. When you get to do something that you like that makes others happy, what can possibly go wrong? If you do hit a bump in the road, keep on going because in the end, you and everyone around you will be happy that you persevered.

There are simple things, too, that you can do to make someone's day — open the door for them, or give them a big smile. Sometimes it's the simple things you do that can make the world a better place.

Other things I've done as a Girl Scout are clean up by the Delta in my city almost every year with my troop. We also sang songs and recited poems while decorating for Halloween at a retirement home. Right now we are working on our Bronze Award. We are going to have a book drive and teach little kids to read. When I am with my troop, we have a great time!

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― The Girls Only Team