VISTA 15:

Guidelines for ?Holiday Shoeboxes? ? Wrap the shoeboxes so the lid and box can be opened. Counselors will need to open the shoeboxes before they are given to the children. Also, do not use bows or any other decorative items on the boxes that would prohibit stacking them (bows, etc., fall off during transport). ? To be respectful of the residents? different religious beliefs the shoeboxes should be wrapped &/or decorated with a ?winter theme?, such as snowflakes or snowmen, nothing pertaining to a specific holiday. Encourage creativity in the decoration. ? Fill the shoebox with age and gender appropriate items. The shelters do not accept any violent toys, games, or literature. Have the kids come up with ideas of things they think the children at the shelters would like or use. Examples of items to put in the shoeboxes are: o Art supplies o Candy o Chap stick o Games: pocket/travel size o Gift Cards for: Dairy Queen, Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins, McDonalds?s, Target, or WalMart o Hair accessories o Manicure or Pedicure products o Pacifiers o Playing Cards o School supplies o Socks / Slipper Socks o Stickers o Toys (Inexpensive) (Keep the total value of the shoeboxes low, around $15 each. The Dollar Store or Target?s $1.00 section are great places to shop.) ? The following information needs to be placed on each shoebox: the shelter?s name, first name and age of the child the box is for; please write this information directly on the shoebox or use a ?mailing/holiday? label. Don?t use any post-it notes which can fall off during transportation. ? When delivering all of the shoeboxes to the HWWC Coordinator, please place them in a plastic bag (30 gallon) labeled with the shelter?s name. ? Please contact Marla Shell at mshell@marykay.com or 847-334-0755 to schedule a time to drop off your boxes between November 30 ? December 2. Marla?s address is 15 Norbert Drive, Hawthorn Woods, Woodland Estates subdivision. THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING AND MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN A CHILD?S LIFE!

Maristella Stockings Maristella helps the homeless women and children of Lake County by promoting self-sufficiency, finding housing and other services. One of the highlights of the year is their annual Christmas party. One way the Scouts have helped over the years is by providing Christmas stockings filled with age/gender appropriate items for these women and children in need. If your scouting unit would like to provide stockings for Maristella, please contact: Judy Zemeske Nicole McClendon 1) Let us know the number of stockings your unit can provide. a. any number is appreciated b. loose stocking-stuffer items are also accepted 2) We will give you: a. the age/gender for your stockings b. stocking stuffer ideas c. drop-off information All stocking donations are needed no later than Friday, December 10th !!

Warm Clothing Drive Now Thru December 13th Leader Meeting *Bring donations to Dec. Service Unit meeting or contact Kim Hansen (kimhansen17@yahoo.com) or Lesley Bauer (lesleybauer@ameritech.net) *Donations will be sent to Fremont Township Hall to benefit local families. Things You Can Bring New or Gently Used ? Coats ? Hats ? Snow Pants ? Gloves ? Scarves ? Boots ? Socks ? Etc. *Patches are available for $1 each for troops who participate. Checks payable to Service Unit 728. Money due at the Dec. Service Unit meeting. Sponsored by Fremont Girl Scout Troop 41395 ~This will contribute to our Silver Award~

GIRL SCOUT TROOP 42701 NEEDS YOUR OLD SOCCER STUFF!!!! Do you have old soccer balls, uniforms, and or cleats that you just don?t know what to do with? Fremont Girl Scout Troop 42701 is collecting used soccer equipment for under privileged youth in the community. Please bring your cleats, shin guards, socks, uniforms and soccer balls to this year?s AYSO REGISTRATION At Mundelein Community Center Tuesday June 2nd 6:00 ? 8:30pm Or Mundelein Community Park Soccer Referee Station and LTSC Soccer Referee station at Field 10. Collection times 9am ? 4pm on June 6th, 7th and 13th Boxes are available for you to donate your used items and the Girl Scouts will see that your donations are brought to children of all ages that otherwise would not have the opportunity to play soccer with the proper equipment and accessories! THANK YOU FOR CONTRIBUTING FOR THE CHILDREN IN YOUR COMMUNITY!! With your help we can continue to support youth sports everywhere!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Girl Scout Bronze Award Project April 23, 2009 Dear Friends and Family: We have been in Libertyville Girl Scout Troop 2405 together for five years and are now working on a Bronze Award Project to finish our last year as Junior Girl Scouts. To earn the award, we have completed the Sign of the World, the Junior Aide Badge, and several other Girl Scout Badges. For the final project to earn the Bronze Award, our goal is to raise money to buy a washer and dryer for our local pet rescue shelter, Orphans of the Storm (www.orphansofthestorm.org). To meet this goal, we will need to raise over $2,000. We are working with local businesses to raise funds for this project. We are writing to you to request your support in our fundraising. We understand if you are not interested in or able to make a contribution. If you are interested, we would appreciate any support you could give. You can send contributions to the address listed below. Checks can be made out to Girl Scout Troop 2405. We can accept donations for the project through May 22, 2009. Sincerely, Megan and Nadia Mail Contributions to: Amy Newton D9MZ, AP20-3 100 Abbott Park Road Abbott Park, IL 60064 Questions? Call Amy at 847-937-9766 Nadia C. and Megan N.

Hello VISTA 15!!!! We are Troop 1320 and working to earn our Bronze Award Service Project with Equestrian Connection. It is a non-for-profit organization that provides horse therapy, life skill training, and art therapy for special people. Mrs. D. Finns, the Director, has asked us to help in 2 ways. First, Equestrian Connection hosts a Fall Fun Fair where they have a competitive Horse Show and Fun Fair in October for all of their clients and families to participate in. We will be responsible for organizing the Bake Sale and Games for the Fair. Secondly, they need our help in collecting items to build their Art and Life Skill Programs. Attached to this e-mail are lists of the items they are looking to have donated for these programs. This is a big commitment with four different projects to earn our Bronze Award. We are up to for this challenge and know we can accomplish it with YOUR HELP. We are asking for help with the following items: At the Fall Fun Fair, we want to sell a Girl Scout Vista Wide Cook Book to help raise additional money for purchasing new or used equipment for the training and therapy programs. We are asking for all troops and or at least the Troop Leaders to collect 4-5 of their favorite family recipes and submit them to us with a troop picture (optional). We are asking the troops to collect very simple supplies for the Art Program. See the attached ?wish list?. Many of the items you might think are junk, but they can use just about anything to make their favorite sculptures. The Life Skill Program is building a ?mini? apartment. They need all types of supplies to furnish this apartment. See the second ?wish list? You can submit the recipes to the leader, Mrs. Callen. If you e-mail her, please put RECIPE in the Subject line. We would like the recipes as soon as possible because we will be working on the layout this summer. If you have any items you want to donate during your Spring/Summer housecleaning for either program, you can contact the leader Mrs. Donna Callen or Mrs. Kim Napierkowski to arrange for drop-off or pick-up. We can continue to collect the items from the ?wish lists? through November. The leaders will be at the monthly Vista Meetings to collect smaller items. Thank You, The Girls from Troop 1320

Subject: FOOD PANTRY PROJECT TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: MY NAME IS PEGGY VAN LAKE. I AM A VERNON HILLS RESIDENT WHO IS PART OF THE "ORGANIZING FOR AMERICA" INITIATED BY PRESIDENT OBAMA. I AM PART OF THE PRAIRIE CHAPTER, WHICH HAS TAKEN ON POVERTY AS OUR INITIAL UNDERTAKING. WE HAVE BEEN WORKING ON REPLENISHING THE VERNON TOWNSHIP FOOD PANTRY THROUGH VARIOUS MEANS. NOW THAT THE WEATHER IS BEGINNING TO BREAK WE ARE GOING TO BE HAVING "SWEEP" DAYS AT VARIOUS GROCERY STORES IN OUR AREA. AT OUR LAST MEETING, WE DISCUSSED RECRUITING SOME OF THE LOCAL SCOUT TROOPS TO HELP ON OUR COLLECTION DAYS. THE INVOLVEMENT WE ARE LOOKING FOR...TO MAN THE DOORS AT THE LOCAL GROCERY STORES, PASS OUT FLYERS WITH NEEDED ITEMS, ETC. IT WOULD BE A FEW HOURS OF COMMITMENT ON A SATURDAY MORNING. WE ARE CURRENTLY LOOKING AT SAT. MAY 9TH AS OUR NEXT DATE. WE ARE STILL FINALIZING THE PARTICIPATING STORES. IF YOU FEEL LIKE THIS IS A PROJECT THE SCOUTS MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. IF THERE IS SOMEONE ELSE I WOULD NEED TO CONTACT, I WOULD APPRECIATE YOU FORWARDING THIS EMAIL TO THEM. YOU CAN REACH ME AT 847-845-8325. THANK YOU. PEGGY VAN LAKE

I'm a board member of the not-for-profit Chicagoland Head Huggers. Our organization delivers chemotherapy caps crafted by volunteers to hospitals, oncology centers, and cancer treatment centers to be provided at no charge to patients. The chemotherapy caps are knitted, crocheted and/or sewn. They are quite simple to make and would be the perfect project for a beginning crafter - which made us think it might be a great way for a Girl Scout to earn a merit badge. We could provide the cap patterns, the yarn or cloth and even host lessons to teach the girls how to make them. Given many of our caps go to kids with cancer, we could even work out an arrangement so the caps the Girl Scouts make go to a local children's cancer treatment center or camp. I had many happy years as a Girl Scout and would be excited to work with the organization again. Thank you for your consideration. Kathi Brown Wright phone: 773-981-4592 www.chicagolandheadhuggers.org

Canned Food Drive Donations Please bring all canned good donations for The Troop 1996 Brownie Luau Canned Food Drive to the VISTA Meeting.

Vista 15 Project Linus Service Project ? April 2009 Project Linus is a 100% volunteer non-profit organization with a two-fold mission: First, it is our mission to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer "blanketeers." Second, it is our mission to provide a rewarding and fun service opportunity for interested individuals and groups in local communities, for the benefit of children. April 2009 Vista 15 Service Project Your troop can participate in this Service Project in one of two ways: 1) Either individually or as a troop make a blanket to donate to Project Linus (see reverse side for blanket ideas) 2) Donate supplies needed by the Project Linus organization ? Supplies needed include acrylic yarn in bright colors and fleece-batting-stamps Bring your blankets and/or supplies to the April Vista meeting on Monday, April 13, 2009, and I will deliver everything to Project Linus. Project Linus patches are available for $1.50 each. Also at the January meeting, you can turn in a check to me (made out to Service Unit 728), along with the number of patches needed. Below are some links to the Project Linus national Web site, local chapter and the local chapter newsletter?where lots of information, ideas and even templates can be found. Project Linus national organization link: http://www.projectlinus.org/index.shtml North and Central Chicagoland Project Linus link: http://www.orgsites.com/il/projectlinuschicago/ Fall Newsletter link: http://www.orgsites.com/il/projectlinuschicago/fallnewsletter2007revised.pdf Any questions, please call Kim Hansen To introduce your scout troop, classroom or youth group to Project Linus, please consider the following guidelines. There are many options when creating a Kids Helping Kids blanket. **The children decorate 8" squares of muslin with either fabric markers or fabric crayons. WE LOVE FLEECE BLANKETS-BUT PLEASE MAKE SINGLE PLY AS THE DOUBLE THICKNESS FLEECE IS TOO BULKY AND HEAVY FOR THE CHILDREN **"NO SEW"Blankets can be made of single layer, soft fleece by fringing the edges and tying them into knots. **Children can be asked to bring in a piece of new fabric of their choice and these pieces are then cut to size and incorporated into a quilt. Supplies Needed to Create Decorated Muslin Squares: __At least one 8" muslin square for each child. If you want Project Linus to provide the squares, we have a muslin "exchange program" that works as follows: When you decide how many squares you will need (many groups have their children make more than one square), calculate the yardage that is needed. For example: One yard of muslin at 36" wide yields 16-8inch squares. If you need 16 squares, you would purchase one yard of muslin to exchange for the 16 squares from Project Linus. Of course you may purchase and cut the squares, just remember that the muslin must be washed, dryed and ironed before cutting. __In order to complete the quilt with the decorated squares, we request that you purchase one and one half yards of flannel for each 10 squares that your group will be creating. Typically, we use twenty squares, ten decorated and ten flannel, for the quilt top with the remainder of the flannel used for the backing. You are of course welcome to make a quilt of your choice using the decorated muslin squares. . ___You will need a supply of fabric markers or fabric crayons. They can be found at Michael's, Hobby Lobby, Walmart or K-mart. One brand that we have had success with is Marvey-The Fabric Brush Marker. Other brands may be acceptable, however make sure that they say permanent FABRIC markers. Please note that the decorated squares must be heat set with a dry iron or placed in a hot dryer. This sets the colors so they do not fade or disappear when laundered. __Provide plain white paper as some children like to practice a design before drawing on the muslin. This paper should also be used under the muslin to protect the work surface. ** Instructions for creating the perfect no-sew fleece blanket are in the fall newsletter: http://www.orgsites.com/il/projectlinuschicago/fallnewsletter2007revised.pdf

Domestic Violence Service Awareness Month Project For our Gold Award Project, we will be converting a large storage room into a "Youth Room" of a local emergency shelter for women & children who are victims of domestic violence. Can your troop help the children who stay here feel like they still have some of the comforts of their own home? We will be collecting the following: Gently Used Non-violent... Board games Card games P52 games for girls Reading Books (all ages) Arts & Craft Supplies... Crayons Colored pencils Markers Construction paper Coloring books Puzzle books Scissors Tape Glue Stickers Other craft supplies Plesse bring donations to The Nov or Dec Vista meeting or Call Lisa Cooper for pick-up.

The Libertyville Township Pantry is low on goods. They have asked the Girl Scouts to help fill the shelves through the middle of November. If your troop would like to help out please gather the goods and drop them off at the Township. The township is located next door to the Bolander Building off Winchester. Any further question please contact the social worker Linda Blatnik 847-816-6800. Condiments Toiletries Paper bags Pasta Ketchup Pasta Sauce Tuna Helper Canned foods Carnation Powdered Milk

Please try to get any Kindergarten or 1st Grade Moms to become a Daisy or Brownie Leader as we already have 10 girls on a waiting list with more to come.