girl scouts

It all started with a little girl with a big heart.

Angelique Heick, the 8-year-old from Bergen who competed as a finalist in the "American Miss" pageant in August, spent a large part of the last year taking money from her monthly allowances and using it to purchase toys for underprivileged children in Genesee County.

She donated 12 toys for each month of the year to Community Action Angels of Genesee County, which is the volunteer arm of Community Action of Orleans & Genesee. It's made up of volunteers dedicated to gathering donations for toys, food, clothing, extra money and other necessities for Genesee County residents in need.

But this wasn't enough. When Angelique learned about all that the "Angels" do to support needy kids and families, she was bothered that there was no such volunteer program for kids her age.

"I wanted to know why there was no Community Action Junior Angels," she said, "so I decided to start my own."

Now, with the help of 100 Girl Scouts -- officially dubbed "Jr. Angels" -- their families, Community Action and others, Angelique has achieved this dream.

Angelique -- a third-grader at Byron-Bergen Elementary School, a Girl Scout since age 4 and a member of Troop 42174 -- inspired her Girl Scout Troop with her idea and efforts to collect funding promises from local businesses along with three friends -- Pat, Lisa and Annet.

Troop 42174 Leader Rene Vurraro gathered Girl Scout Troops from Byron-Bergen, Pavilion and Le Roy to help with a community service event in response to Angelique's vision.

When Community Action, in turn, heard about what the Scouts were doing, they decided to partner with them to make this a much bigger, annual event called "Circle of Giving" and to develop a Community Action Jr. Angels program.

The first "Circle of Giving" was held on Saturday at Byron-Bergen High School.  The Jr. Angels were there to collect donations of food, clothing and toys, and to make cards for the recipients.

The goal is to eventually turn this into an opportunity for area Girl Scouts to earn a badge.

Beyond that, Community Action has included this project in a book of statewide initiatives so that people in other areas of New York State can read about it and get similar projects started.

"One 8-year-old's dream could turn into thousands of Girl Scouts doing the same thing," said Pat Standish, founder of Community Action Angels of Genesee County.

Standish gave the Scouts an inspirational talk about her experience with the "Angels" and told them how much people will appreciate what they are doing.

"When I first started (with Community Action Angels)," she said, "I thought kids would want things like bicycles and iPods. But what's important to them is not what you give, but that you show that you care."

She also stressed the importance of team effort when it comes to the "Angels" and similar volunteer initiatives.

"I may have had the idea (as founder)," Standish said, "but I needed the help of volunteers to make it happen. And Angelique had an idea, but she couldn't have done it without help from all of you and your families."

Organizations that sponsored this endeavor include Stahlka Agency, Complete Payroll Processing, the Sallie Mae Fund and First Niagara Bank.

"They gave money so the kids wouldn't have to wait (to get started)," Standish said.

Dee Dee Hintz, Angelique's grandmother and legal guardian, expressed gratitude to Byron-Bergen Jr./Sr. High School Principal Aaron Johnson and Elementary School Principal Brian Meister for handing out fliers for this event.

"I think this is the beginning of something big," Hintz said, noting the number of volunteers involved in the overall project.

"Next year will be even bigger," she said. "(Angelique) already knows what she wants to do next year. She'll carry this on for at least two or three more years."

A final note

"Circle of Giving" is the philosophy of Community Action Angels, which encourages its beneficiaries to "pay it forward."

According to Standish, many of the people helped by the "Angels" over the years have become volunteers.

Special thanks to Angelique's mom, Jennifer Cejka, for sharing background information prior to the event and for providing the inspiration for the article's title.

Gregorina Cooper, known to friends as "Greg," is turning 90 on Jan. 16. For Greg, a volunteer with the Girl Scouts for more than 70 years, turning the page to a ninth decade and heading toward the century mark is pretty remarkable, but Greg's story is about more than longevity.

Saturday, in the community room at Monsignor Kirby Apartments here in Batavia, where Greg has resided since 2008, a celebration of her milestone birthday was attended by grown-up Girl Scouts from destinations spanning Canada to Buffalo and Warsaw to Rochester.

Though Greg was married to Kenneth D. Cooper -- who shared a love of children, and was very involved in Boy Scouts -- the couple never had children of their own.

Six of the Girl Scouts, now adults in their 50's and 60's, and a couple of husbands, formed a support group for Greg Cooper. 

It started with a few of the girls visiting Cooper's place in Warsaw, and helping her with maintenance on her home, cleaning up the yard, and decorating for the holidays.

Members of the group include: Ann Salter, an administrator at the Research Foundation for the State University of New York; Jane Gerken, a teacher; Elle Howard-Fronckowiak, a nurse, plus her husband, Ron; Carol Van Tassel-Creighton, a clinical social worker; Cherie Seifert-Corey, a nurse; and Mary Ann Faulring-Kreuder, a teacher, and her husband, Tom.

For years, Cooper would go to Florida and skip the WNY winters, and the girls would help her to pack up for the trip down South.

Some even flew down to Florida to help her get ready for the return trip. More and more Cooper depended on the girls for extra help, and in 2008, Cooper had a chance to move to the apartments here in Batavia, to be closer to one of her former scouts who is a nurse.

"I figured, I'm safe here, so I moved in," Cooper said.

The group now helps Cooper with shopping, getting around town and medical care.

Even at a time when she needs extra help, Cooper continues to live and love life, she said, enjoying reading, crafts, card games, shopping, farmer's markets, going to concerts and attending church on Sundays.

Cooper doesn’t miss a birthday or anniversary of all these girls and their spouses, always remembering to send a card or make a phone call, and her situation is a great example of that old saying, "You get what you give."

Cooper was awarded the Thanks Badge by the Girl Scouts on her 75th year.

When asked how long she'd been involved with the Girl Scouts, she said, "I'm still involved!"

The community room was bustling Saturday with multiple media outlets and many visitors filling the room.

"I didn't know they'd do all this," Cooper said. "I didn't expect all of this."

Cooper's friends and fans said they were "privileged" to give back to a woman who had given so much to them.

Some members from local Brownie Girl Scout Troop 42001 went around to visit some local places today to give thanks before the upcoming holiday. First stop was at Community Action of Orleans and Genesee to present some donations of goods to help familes for Thanksgiving.

We presented to Lisa Wittmeyer, case manager (left), some donations from our troop shown above. Next to her are Noelia Ventura, Alyssa Ognibene, Portia Ranalli, Co-Leader Steve Ognibene and Brandi Lang-Smith.

Then our troop visited and donated Girl Scout Cookies to Justice for Children pictured below.

Accepting the cookies was Julie Walsh (pictured middle holding our letter).

Our last stop was M&T Bank to give our thanks to Bank Manager Mike Easton (left, below) and present him with a Certificate of Sponsorship for allowing us to use his bank for our cookie booth sales this year. 

Our troop did very well in cookie sales and together with individual sales we sold 1,000 boxes of cookies. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

(Photos submitted by Steve Ognibene)

Today was Santa's annual visit to Oliver's Candies in Batavia. Store Manager Jeremy Liles said that the event is held to kick off the Christmas season every year on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. The line of kids waiting to see Santa stretched across the store to the door.

Some of the kids, happy to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas.

Outside was a petting zoo for the kids.

The Batavia Area Jaycees were on hand with refreshments.

Just in case you weren't prepared for Santa's Christmas visit, the Girl Scouts had plenty of cookies. Just add milk.

When I stopped into M&T Bank in Batavia late this afternoon, I was greeted by an enthusiastic group of Girl Scouts selling Girl Scout cookies. It's that time of year -- have you bought yours yet?

Daisy Girl Scouts Alyssa Ognibene, Lidia Pehrson, Brooklynn Pariso, Arianna Armstrong and Kelsey Verton (front, left to right) were on Thomas Avenue in the city today along with troupe co-leader Tara Pariso (back).

They were collecting cans to raise money for Brooklyn Sputore, a baby girl who suffers from a life-threatening condition called Vein of Galen Brain Malformation. Click on the following link for previous coverage: www.thebatavian.com/tags/brooklyn-sputore

Tara attends Northgate Free Methodist Church along with the Sputore family. She wanted to do something to help Brooklyn while at the same time giving the Daisies a community service project.

As of noon today, the girls had been to 25 houses in Batavia and collected more than 2,000 cans and bottles. They will present their proceeds to the family tomorrow at a fundraiser for Brooklyn, which will take place at St. Joseph's School, 2 Summit St. in Batavia and include a spaghetti dinner, Chinese auction and other raffles.

Pre-sale tickets to tomorrow's fundraiser can be purchased from Paul Sputore, 781-8138, or at the door. Cost is $8 for adults and $4 for children 12 and younger. But you might want to hurry, because there are less than 50 tickets left.

For more information on Brooklyn and the fundraiser, please visit the family's Facebook page via the following link: www.facebook.com/pages/Brooklyn-Grace-Sputore/122679241137680?sk=info#!/pages/Brooklyn-Grace-Sputore/122679241137680?sk=wall

The local Girl Scouts have a new home, 5 Jackson St., Batavia.

After the location the Girl Scouts occupied in City Centre was sold, the local office and retail shop was relocated to vacant retail space just about a block away.

It took about a month to get settled in, but the retail shop is now set up and the staff is ready to help local scouts and leaders.

The scouts will host an open house at its new location from 3 to 6 p.m., Monday, Feb. 28.

The grand opening will include free drawings, prizes and discounts on scouting items as well as a food drive for the Salvation Army and Batavia Agri-Business Child Development.

The shop is open from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, with the service center opening at 8:30 a.m.

Pictured above, from left, Stephanie Burgett, customer service, Marlene Worthington, membership manager, Kathie Waika, program manager and Robin Ettinger, membership manager.

Yesterday afternoon several Girl Scouts from the Oakfield/Elba area visited Crossroads House to deliver 114 handmade pillows. The girls made the pillows in November planning to give them to Hospice, but Hospice can no longer accept the pillows.  

Tracine Lundmark of Oakfield made some calls and found out that Crossroads House could use the pillows. The girls enjoyed seeing Lois Folger receive several they had made. 

Crossroads will use the pillows to help future residents become more comfortable. If your group or organization would like to make a donation to Crossroads, you can find their contact information on their website. http://crossroadshouse.com