Bronze Award Spotlight: Hopeful Hats

Girl Scout Pippa from Troop 1281 in Yorktown, a homeschooled student, loves to knit and loves Girl Scouting. She put the two together to help others in her community! As a way to earn the Girl Scout Bronze Award, the highest award a Girl Scout Junior can earn, she created a project to spread awareness about the need for knitted baby hats to support babies cared for in neonatal intensive care units. There, babies get around-the-clock care from a team of experts.

Pippa taught a variety of people how to knit the hats using a Knifty Knitter. She was able to share this skill with classmates, neighbors, family members and other Girl Scouts. In total, she donated more than 75 hats to two different local NICU units, with the help of MadHatter Knits, an organization that helps to connect knitters with NICUs in need of hats. The best part of the project is that many of the people she taught still continue to knit hats and, with the help of these new knitters, 113 more hats have been donated since her project’s completion, with 63 of those hats having been sent overseas to Mongolia to help a hospital in need through MadHatter Knits.

Girl Scout Pippa from Troop 1281 gathering supplies for her project

Girl Scout Pippa with some of her donated knit hats

“I love spending time with my sister Girl Scouts and experiencing new things,” Pippa said. “My favorite thing we’ve done so far is walk in the Christmas parade and carry the banner at the start. I’m excited to be going to Latitude soon and learn how to climb walls, and I hope we are able to try Go Ape again, too.”

Pippa’s mom, Amber, has served as the leader for the troop for five years. She’s a Gold Award Girl Scout alum who was in Girl Scouting throughout her youth and has spent many of her adult years volunteering. “I have so many wonderful Girl Scout memories and hope to be able to guide my troop so they can create their own! I still keep in touch with my troop leaders and some of my sister Girl Scouts!”

Congratulations, Pippa!

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