ASHLAND —
To earn the highest honor, Girl Scouts must find a way to give back to the community in a big way, and Lura Frye did just that.
A Girl Scout’s Gold Award is the equivalent to a Boy Scout’s Eagle Scout award, Frye said. To earn a Gold Award, a girl scout must complete a large community service project and meet several prerequisites, including other awards, such as the Silver Award, several stages of planning for the project and many community service hours. The Gold Award project is something a girl scout begins considering long before the idea becomes a reality.
“The Gold Award is something you do as an individual. It has to be an original idea that gives back to the community,” Frye said.
Frye started the Girl Scout program when she was in kindergarten, she said, and when she was in third grade her mom became the Girl Scout leader.
Frye said she began planning her project years ago, when she was a sophomore in high school. That is when she began to try to meet all the prerequisites such a large project requires, such as writing out organized plans and sending them to be approved.
The idea for her project took root one day when Debra Wright, a woman who works at Safe Harbor, a shelter that provides free services to domestic violence and sexual assault victims in northeastern Kentucky, visited her church. Frye was interested in what Wright had to say about the shelter and kept it in mind. Later, a Girl Scout mentor got a group together to discuss what girls could do for their gold project and Wright was in that group. When Frye saw Wright in that group, she said she knew she wanted her Gold Award project to involve Safe Harbor.
After some brainstorming, Frye decided she wanted to create a room for teens at the shelter. And in January 2011, her plans started to come together.
“They’re out of their home and in an unfamilliar environment. As a teen, I know I would want a space of my own there, so I wanted to fill it (the teen room) with TVs, books, video games... I wanted it to be a calming room,” Frye said.
Many of the materials Frye needed to transform the empty room at Safe Harbor into a relaxing room for teens was donated, she said. Sherwin Williams donated paint, her church, First Presbyterian Church in Ashland, donated several items and her mother’s work place donated computers. Frye also spent some of her own money on supplies for the room.
“From selling Girl Scout cookies you get to keep like 40 cents per box... You can use that money any way you want to for girl scouting,” Frye said. “I had about $500 saved up that I used to buy supplies.”
After receiving some donations, Frye, with the help of some friends and a Girl Scout mentor, Susan Eaton, began transforming the room. They started by filling holes in the walls, then priming and painting them blue. Then the heavy lifting began, and the girls moved computers and furniture, such as a book case and chairs, into the room. Although the work was not constant, it was still difficult. After several months of renovating, the room was completed some time during August 2011.
Now, seeing the finished room brings Frye a sense of pride.
“I’ve always liked volunteering and think it’s great to get to do a big service project. And it’s for people my age, so I feel connected to them,” Frye said.
She said she has not actually seen the room in use because of Safe Harbor’s strict policies, but knowing the teen room is being used is gratifying.
The room has made an impressive transformation, she said.
“It’s a lot different. Now it even has lighting and Internet,” she said.
SHANNON MILLER can be reached at smiller@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2657.
Local News
Local Girl Scout helps Safe Harbor
Frye creates teen room at shelter
- Local News
-
- Secretary of Education coming to Louisville
-
New laws go into effect next week
New laws approved during the Kentucky General Assembly’s 2013 regular session go into effect on Tuesday.
-
Local in brief: 6/19/13
Southland Bible Institute’s training for high school students continues through Friday at the school at 238 W. Southland Drive.
-
Saturday's Flatwoods Music Festival will include tributes to Mike Murphy
The songs of Mike Murphy and Zachariah will be remembered and performed Saturday amid an afternoon and evening of free music at the annual Flatwoods Music Festival.
-
Local WinShape camp gaining steam
The WinShape Camps for Communities at Bridges Christian Church the first week of July are starting to draw considerable buzz.
-
Camp Invention full of science-based discovery
The formula for inventing a new machine, according to 9-year-old Hayden Wheeler, goes something like this: “First, I run it through my mind and plan it out, and then I make adjustments in my mind, and then I try it out.”
-
Boyd staying with same health plan
Boyd County officials heard pitches Tuesday for two new health care plans — one for employees, the other for inmates. Both claimed they could save taxpayers thousands of dollars in medical expenses over the coming year.
-
Sentencing in Carter drug trafficking case
Five people were sentenced to prison terms last week in a federal drug-trafficking case that involved selling cocaine and pills in Carter County, according to court documents.
-
19-year-old launching one-man food drive, ‘Cans for a Cause’
Never accuse Aaron Hannah of not being ambitious and failing to set high goals for himself.
Later this month, Hannah, a 19-year-old 2012 graduate of Raceland-Worthington High School, will launch what is essentially a one-man food drive. His goal: to collect at least 10,000 pounds of canned food for River Cities Harvest to distribute to local nonprofits and churches that help feed the hungry.
Hannah, who just completed his freshman year as a Bonner Scholar at Berea College, said scholars are encouraged, but not required, to do community projects designed to help the needy. -
Westwood man charged with attempted murder
A Westwood man was arrested on attempted murder charges following an incident Sunday night, according to the Ashland Police Department.
Michael L. Thompson, 38, was charged following an investigation. - More Local News Headlines
Hoffa Mystery Still Fascinates After 4 Decades
Raw: 1 Dead in Shooting at Mo. Apartment Complex
Raw: Huge Fire Near Yosemite National Park
Raw: Obama Arrives in Berlin
3 Charged in Ohio With Enslaving Mom, Daughter
Obama Seeks G-8 Support on Syria
Raw: Volcano Erupts Near Mexico City
Kid Couture: Spending Big Bucks on Babies
Suicide Bombs Target Baghdad Mosque, Killing 29
Military Plans to Put Women in Combat Jobs
Solar Power Chargers in NYC Parks
Civil Rights Groups Sue NYPD Over Muslim Spying
Raw: First Lady, Daughters Enjoy Irish Sights
RAW: NSA Director Says 50 Plots Foiled
Boeing, Airbus Battle for Sales Supremacy
