Silver Award Girl Scouts, Zada and Abigail

Book Nooks for Elders

Zada and Abby knew that the elderly often face issues of isolation. They connected with community organizations, Aging in Place and Living Well, to learn more about this issue and discover what they could do to alleviate this problem. They discovered that isolation in the elderly happens due to a lack of connection with the greater community. So, Abby and Zada, along with their community partners, created a series of Book Nooks specifically for older residents in their area.

The book nooks house books on a variety of topics and created opportunities for elderly citizens to pick up a book, connect with other members of the community, and share their thoughts, ideas, and interests with others. Each of the girls used their leadership skills throughout their project by presenting their ideas to local agencies, gathering support for their project. They also organized collection drives and worked with groups and individuals to maintain the book nooks.

One of the challenges the girls faced was finding ideal locations for their book nooks. Their advice to other girls working on their Silver Award is to be flexible when working with so many different team members.