BALDWINSVILLE — Most gardeners aspire to have a green thumb, but Cassidy Holz can say hers is gold.
The Onondaga Community College student and Baker High School grad capped off her Girl Scout career earlier this year by earning the Gold Award, the highest honor a Girl Scout can achieve.
Senior and Ambassador level Girl Scouts (in grades 9-12) who want to earn their Gold Award must complete a “Take Action Project” that improves their community in a measurable, sustainable way. For her project, Holz installed a garden to support the food pantry at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Clay.
“There’s a lot of people who are going hungry and I know a lot of people who are in that situation use food pantries,” Holz said. “Food pantries don’t get the greatest quality food for vegetables — it’s all canned stuff.”
A local VFW post connected Holz to the Cpl. Kyle R. Schneider Foundation for her project. Lorie and Rick Schneider founded the organization in memory of their son, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2011 while serving in the Marines.
Holz dubbed her project the Cpl. Kyle R. Schneider Memorial Garden. She built two 18-by-4 raised beds.
The partnership between B’ville Girl Scouts and local veterans organizations is not a new one. In 2020, Alicia Baldwin’s Gold Award project was the renovation of VFW Post 153’s Veterans Food Pantry.
According to Feeding America, 1 in 9 working-age veterans and nearly 1 in 4 active-duty servicemembers struggle with food insecurity. The hunger problem is exacerbated by many of the other difficulties facing veterans: disability, mental health issues, unemployment and discrimination. While 1.2 million veterans use SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits, many active-duty military families do not qualify for food assistance. Military spouses have a high unemployment rate and housing near military bases can be expensive.
Among Holz’s bounty from the Cpl. Kyle R. Schneider Memorial Garden were tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, onions, celery, eggplant, okra and basil. She conveniently dropped off her harvests at Immanuel Lutheran as the veggies came in.
“The younger Girl Scouts in my service unit have agreed to help out with the bulk of the work going forward,” she said of her garden’s future.
Holz is now studying American Sign Language at OCC. She said she wants to work with autistic children, some of whom are non-verbal. Girl Scouting has given her invaluable life lessons such as how to be resourceful to solve problems and face life’s difficulties.
“It also showed me that I always have a group of people that are, no matter what, willing to help out in life,” she added.
Holz shared her advice for Girl Scouts working toward their awards.
“Just keep pushing forward. You’ve got this,” she said. “You’ll feel so great that you did such a great thing. When you’re all done, you will feel empowered because of it.”
Holz, along with 32 other Girl Scouts from Upstate New York and one from Pennsylvania, received her Gold Award in a ceremony held at Drumlins in late November.
“I’m inspired by our Class of 2022 Gold Award Girl Scouts. They identified the root cause of pressing issues in their communities, created sustainable solutions and took action to earn one of Girl Scouting’s highest achievements. Each embodies our Mission, Promise, and Law, and completed a project with lasting impact,” said Julie Dale, Girl Scouts of NYPENN Pathways CEO.
GSNYPENN serves 24 counties in Upstate New York and two counties in northern Pennsylvania. To learn more, visit gsnypenn.org.
