9/11 HEROES RUN

Doing Volunteer work is an important part in being a Girl Scout.

Helping others and giving back to the community is something that I, as a leader, want to instill in the girls of Troop 746.

With today being 9/11 I thought it was a perfect time to gather up the girls and have them pitch in.

So, we went to Irvine and volunteered at the 9/11 HEROES RUN.




The area they needed our help in was in handing out water to the runners. The girls were excited about getting started with their job.

They really liked getting the Volunteer shirts to wear.

The first job of the day was to set up the area. Get the cups out, pour the water and line them up. Soon the runners would be heading our way.

Little did we know, that even with two tables full of cups, we would need about 3 times as many.

It was nice seeing the girls actually doing the work and not just having the adults do it. They actually enjoyed pitching in.

The Troop was lucky to have Trinity's Grandma, Maureen, help out. She was kind enough to pick up all the girls and drive them to and from the Run. Plus, she was great in getting the water to the girls to hand out.

Thanks Maureen! The girls and I really appreciate all your hard work.

We did miss having Jesse there with us. However, we not only thought about her, we decided to try to get an extra shirt and dog tag for her. Even though she had prior commitments for today, the girls remembered her and didn't want her to be left out.

We explained to the Volunteer Leader that we really wanted to bring a shirt and dog tag to Jesse and we were lucky enough to get her them for her.

It's so nice to see the girls growing closer and closer together and really acting like Girl Scout Sisters. They want to have all the girls treated fairly and are not just out to get what they can for themselves. They want all of them to be treated fairly and the same.

Michelle, Haili's mom, also was sweet enough to join us. She was wonderful in helping the girls out too. Getting the water ready, keeping the girls supplied with cups of water through out the run and cleaning up.

Thank you so much Michelle! You were a huge help.

It's so nice to have the Parents pitch in. Our Troop has wonderful support from all the Parents and we are truly blessed to have them.

There wasn't really much down time but, the girls did have a few minutes to run around and play before the race started.

I love this picture of them.

Here they are practicing their excitement for the runners and cheering them on.

I have to laugh at this photo because it shows what great sports they all are. They are so willing to let me get my photos and even when they really don't want their pictures taken they still let me snap away.

Thanks girls! You will be happy when you are my age and have these to look back on. I promise.

This is a close up of the shirts we got. Yes, even us adults got them. That was a nice surprise for all of us.

I'll be wearing this shirt a lot. I for one, never want to forget what happened on 9/11/2001.

Here the gang is watching and waiting for the gun to go off to signal the start of the race. We know that once it does, we have just a few minutes before our important job will be taking place.

Just look at those faces. Can't you tell the girls were really having a nice morning? I can.

Once the runners started to come, they kept coming. Things went from fast pace to crazy at times. Trying to keep everyone supplied with water to hand out and running back and forth to the water table kept us all busy.

I really wish we would have moved the water table closer to the runners. Oh well, there is always next year. Yes, I do think it would be nice to make this a yearly event for us.

All the runners were so thankful to have the girl scouts there to help out. Many actually stopped and said thank you to the girls. It was so nice.



All three of them really had fun handing the runners the water. They really loved when a little kid would come by. I think they were impressed with the kids running and walking in the race.

I was worried about Haili when we first got there. Poor dear, wasn't feeling well. I was so glad she ended up feeling better as the morning went on.

She did a great job and I'm so happy she stuck it out. It would have been easy for her to have just stayed home but, she was a real trooper! Her hard efforts really paid off too.

Nikki was super! She worked her tail off. Not only did she get up early and help out at the race but then she had to go home and get to her game. No rest for this little one!

It was so cute because she made sure to bring her cell phone. Her mom couldn't make today because she had to take her little brother to scoccer. Nikkie wanted to be sure to check in and keep her mom advised of how things were going. I hope she told her mom how hard she worked.

Way to go Nikki!

Trinity was fantastic! I never once heard her say she didn't want to do something. She stepped up and went right to work.

Even when it came time to pick up trash or digging through the trash cans for water bottles to recycle. That's right, the girls all pitched in and got the water bottles everyone threw out so they could recycle them.

Trinity is a great example of what Girl Scout is. I'm proud of you Trinity.

The runners would grab the cups of water and then drink it and throw the cups down. Even though we were not asked to pick them up, the girls took the initiative and did it anyway.

They actually made a game of it. Rushing to see who could pick up the most cups. I don't think anyone really won but it made it more fun then just saying they were picking up trash.

Life is all about how you look at things. You can look at a job as something you don't want to do, whine about it and be miserable or you can look at it as something fun and do it with a smile on your face.

It was cool that they actually called the girls up to the stand to thank them. They were the youngest volunteers to ever volunteer at this race over the years.

They really made the girls feel special.

I have no idea what they were talking about in this photo but it looks like they having a good time.

They also had the girls stay up there to draw the names of the winners of all the raffle prizes. They took turns drawing the names.

Trinity and Nikki had let their balloons go before getting up on stage but Haili held tight to hers. She wanted to keep it.

It was sort of funny because they ended up giving another balloon to Trinity and Nikki again. Even though they didn't want one and had let their other one go, they just smiled and accepted it.

Yes, the 2nd set end up flying away in the sky too. It wasn't long after they got off the stage that they let them ago...again. But, not Haili! She held tight on to hers and took hers home.

OK, I'm not trying to be mean but...what was that tall guy wearing? Oh and check out the pants on the other guy with the green shirt?

It was nice to see grown men having fun and dressing in a way that made others laugh. Yes, they even made fun of themselves.

The run used all the money they collected to go towards the HEROES around us. They donated the money to the injured men and women of our Military, Police Departments and Fire Departments. What a great cause!

The girls had their photo taken with one of the Policemen that were there. He thanked them for their help and told them how good it was to be in Girl Scouts. He then went to his car and got them special DARE erasers.

It's little tokens of appreciation that makes these girls happy. They loved their little gifts.

This is the dog tags they got. I think they would be perfect to use in a scrapbook! Hmm, a Troop Scrapbook. Now, that is a great idea.

Once again, I was so proud of "my girls".