Silver Award Girl Scout, Meghan
When Meghan noticed her local library using a contactless pickup window for patrons to safely receive books during the pandemic, she started paying attention. That’s when she discovered that the books were being transported through plastic bags which Meghan often observed break and fall on the ground, left to blow away in the wind and contribute to overall waste.
As a sustainable solution to the issue, Meghan decided to embark on a mission to reduce the use of plastic bags by creating and distributing free, reusable book bags for library visitors to use instead. Meghan teamed up with a local quilting group to sew 200 reusable bags made from locally donated fabric. To increase accountability for her project, Meghan also created a “Plastic Free” pledge for each patron who received a book bag to sign. Taking it one step further, each book bag even came with a pattern for users to make their own bags.
“I discovered many things about myself during my project. I can reach out of my comfort zone and talk, not only to strangers, but professionals on the phone. I can also be more of a leader than I thought and lead a group of adults. I can be more outgoing than I normally am. I feel like I personally gained and learned many things through guiding this project to completion. One of the skills I gained [was] time management when the project turned out so much larger than I pictured. I gained more self-discipline to accomplish difficult tasks. This will help me complete more difficult tasks or problems in the future such as achieving the Gold Award and success in college,” said Meghan.
