Girl Scout Troop gives community gardeners a place to relax - By Elizabeth Richards

Gardeners have a new place to sit and relax at the Windham Community Garden, courtesy of Windham Girl Scout Troop 1040. The project is part of the girls’ work towards their Bronze Award, which requires a community service component.

Priscilla Payne, secretary of the Windham Community Garden board of directors, said that the bench will be a nice addition to the garden.  “People come here to work, and it is hot, and they get tired.  It will be a great place to sit and relax,” she said.  Although there are a few chairs at the garden, there are no other benches. The new bench was placed near the center of the garden next to a couple of rock formations.  “The rocks are like cairns where people can reflect and meditate, so we thought that would be the most appropriate place for it,” Payne said.

The project introduced the girls to new skills, including the decision making process, using a drill and painting. Leader Jennifer Prescott said they began with a long list of ideas and places they could help before narrowing the decision down to the bench. 

“They had all kinds of great ideas,” she said, adding that the troop has already done a lot of service to places like the food pantry, and wanted to try something different.  Another leader, Penny Peterson, added that they wanted to build something that people in the community could use.

 

Leader Gaye Gallant-Prescott said the plan for building the bench was found online, and Home Depot cut the wood pieces to the appropriate sizes. The troop then worked to put the pieces together like a puzzle, she said.  

Troop member Ava Collins said that the project was both easy and challenging at times.  Painting was the easy part, she said. She had never built anything before, however, so screwing the bench together was challenging.

 The girls in Troop 1040 are: Annabelle Demar, Hannah Peterson, Madison Myers, Julia Demar, Ava Collins, Alana Grant and Maggie Dalton. All except Dalton were present at the presentation of the bench to the garden on Thursday, September 8, 2016.