Local Scouts Receive 'Youth Group Ambush Award'

Girl Scout Cadettes Khloe Cornish and Violet Hopkins of Troop 617 were recently surprised at a troop meeting with the Keep Charlotte Beautiful (KCB) 2022-2023 Youth Group Ambush Award, presented by Rhonda Harvey, KCB Executive Director. Khloe and Violet worked to educate people on the importance of keeping beaches clean, built beach toy borrow bins, held a beach toy collection, and worked with Charlotte County Parks to have the bins placed at Englewood Beach and Port Charlotte Beach. “There will be less reason to buy plastic toys that will only be used once and instead, people can bring their children to the beach and just borrow toys from the bin and return them when done,” explained Harvey. The Beach Toy Borrow Bins project was Khloe and Violet’s Girl Scout Silver Award, the highest award Girl Scout Cadettes may earn. To earn the Silver Award, Girl Scouts must research and address the root cause of an issue in their community, demonstrate leadership, and create a plan to make the project sustainable. The girls each contributed more than 50 hours to their project. Pictured here are (l-r): Rhonda Harvey, Khloe Cornish, and Violet Hopkins.