TONGANOXIE, Kan. — The Girl Scouts of Northeast Kansas and Northwest Missouri is helping build the futures of young girls, after receiving a grant thanks to community support.
Nearly a month ago, Evergy asked for community participation in gifting nonprofits up to $10,000 via Facebook for their Spread Good Energy Hometown Grant.
The Girl Scouts of Northeast Kansas and Northwest Missouri, will use the funding to create a new traverse wall. The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, also received the grant, which it will use to help revitalize Monarch Plaza.
Joy Wheeler, Girl Scouts of Northeast Kansas and Northwest Missouri CEO, says she is grateful for the community’s votes, and the $8,000 her organization received.
“A little girl climbing that wall builds confidence,” Wheeler said.
The new traverse wall is more than meets the eye, Wheeler says it helps young girl scouts build character.
"The higher the adventure, the better they like it, so we have to start with little girls building their courage and confidence on a wall like this,” she said.
Jason Schwartz, Green Team coordinator with Evergy, says the wall will help bring this sense of adventure to children who "may not have a playground in their neighborhood."
A team of volunteers, including Schwartz, helped make the traverse wall a reality Tuesday.
“You’ve got this bucket truck today that maybe wasn’t needed to do the routine job,” Schwartz said. "We say, 'Hey, can we borrow that today?' and instead of putting up a transmission line somewhere, we install a traverse wall.”
With summer camp right around the corner, Girl Scouts can now build confidence, courage and life skills one step at a time.
"There is more opportunity for problem solving which is a huge thing in Girl Scouts," Wheeler said. "They will be thrilled to see that this offers them that experience."
