Piedmont High School rising senior Lucy Allen has completed Girl Scout’s highest honor: the Gold Award. Her project, “Connect and Read,” supports the East Bay Children’s Book Project by getting donated books into the hands of children who need them most.
Lucy has partnered with the Alameda County Community Food Bank, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, and Elizabeth House — a transitional housing program for women and children — to coordinate seasonal book box deliveries. Recognizing that it can sometimes be difficult for organizations to travel to the Book Project’s Oakland location, Lucy developed procedures that make it easy for EBCBP volunteers to proactively reach out to partner organizations and offer deliveries three to four times a year.
The Gold Award is designed to address a root cause of a community problem — in this case, low childhood literacy rates — through a project that remains sustainable beyond the Girl Scout’s direct involvement.
In addition to earning the Gold Award, Lucy received two Girl Scout Community Service Bar awards for organizing book drives that collected over 3,000 books for the East Bay Children’s Book Project.
Books at Elizabeth House
Lucy is very grateful for the support of Ellen Reed, Project Advisor and EBCBP volunteer; Anca Mosoiu, EBCBP volunteer; all the volunteers and donors at EBCBP; Sue Greenwald, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland; Shari Douglas, Alameda County Community Food Bank; Annie McShane, Alameda County Community Food Bank; Valarie Taylor, Elizabeth House; Cindy McCann, Girl Scout Gold Award Coordinator; Sally Baack and Cortney Allen, Girl Scout Troop 30713 Leaders and her friends and family.
