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Community Corner

Big Bend resident expands community garden and earns highest Girl Scout honor

Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast (GSWISE) has awarded Big Bend resident and Girl Scout Lauren Lambach the highest honor in Girl Scouting—the Girl Scout Gold Award. Girl Scouts who receive this award are challenged to complete a variety of requirements and carry out a project that meets an expressed need in the community and beyond.

Lambach took on the task of expanding a community garden for public housing residents. She added six new raised garden beds along with dirt and woodchips to accommodate residents interested in growing their own gardens.

With the help of volunteers and donations from friends, family and the community, Lambach purchased gardening supplies and created informational resources for the gardeners, including a binder full of instructions on growing vegetables.

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Community gardens have been shown to help reduce crime in areas with high poverty rates. Lambach said gardening also gives residents a sense of pride, ownership and a boost in self-confidence.

 “After seeing the expressions on the residents’ faces on planting day, I learned that it doesn’t take a lot of people to make a big difference. They were so appreciative and excited to begin their own gardens,” Lambach said in her Gold Award final report. 

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Lambach is a 2013 graduate of Mukwonago High School. She is currently attending Bradley University and majoring in biochemistry.

"Earning the Girl Scout Gold Award designation is truly a remarkable achievement, and this young woman exemplifies leadership in all its forms," said Christy L. Brown, Chief Executive Officer of Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast. "She saw a need in her community and took action. Her extraordinary dedication, perseverance, and leadership, is making the world a better place."

About the Girl Scout Gold Award

The Gold Award represents the highest achievement in Girl Scouting; it recognizes girls in grades 9 through 12 who demonstrate extraordinary leadership through sustainable and measurable Take Action projects. Since 1916, girls have successfully answered the call to go gold, an act that indelibly marks them as accomplished members of their communities and the world. A Girl Scout who has earned her Gold Award immediately rises one rank in any of the U.S. military branches.

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