Girl Scout juniors tackle childhood literacy

ENGLEWOOD — Three Girl Scout juniors put their building skills to the test in order to provide a free library for Englewood residents.

The Little Free Library at 401 S. Broadway won the girls a Bronze Award, which is the highest honor in for a Girl Scout junior. The award requires a lasting impact on the community while emphasizing leadership, community involvement and essential skills development.

Alivia Burritt, Rylee Hayes and Samantha Morris collaborated with the Englewood-Cape Haze Kiwanis Club and the Bookworm bookstore to complete their little library.

Pam Cataloni and Crystal Burritt oversaw the project and provided guidance for the girls.

“They learned to work as a cohesive team, delegating tasks such as painting and constructing different parts of the book box,” Crystal Burritt said.

The girls are 11 years old and about to enter sixth grade at SKY Academy of Englewood. They’ve also just graduated to Girl Scouts Cadets.

“We’ve been in Girl Scouts for six years,” Alivia said. “Books are expensive now, and we thought it would be a great way for people to grab books without having to pay for them.”

Crystal Burritt said the trio spent several weeks painting the box, assembling the box, varnished the box and looked up quotes to put on the side of the box. The trio settled on a Dr. Seuss quote.

“We went through about 100 quotes,” Hayes said.

“Dr. Seuss’ quote was the most meaningful and exciting one instead of being playful,” Alivia added. “Varnishing was my least favorite part because my hands got so sticky afterwards.”

During the course of the project, the girls got to try things for the first time — such as using power tools.

“Little miss Rylee over here was kind of a pro at it by the time we got done,” Crystal Burritt said. “They all did great.”

The project is just one example of why the girls enjoy Girl Scouts so much. Rylee likes the community of Girl Scouts and the friendships she’s made in the past six years.

“I love all the adventures we get to do, and all of the things we get to do for our community,” Alivia said.

Laura Roy, executive director of the St. David’s Jubilee Center, said that everyone at the center are proud of the girls.

“These amazing young ladies volunteered over 20 hours on this project, to earn a Bronze Award,” Roy said. “This is a true example of what makes our Englewood community so great — people helping people.”