Upper Saddle River June 22, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • Page 5 Eleven borough residents achieve Girl Scout Gold status She also planned Health Night, and provided healthy foods, such as fresh fruit and whole wheat muffins. Each attendee was given a cookbook with recipes that call for healthy, inexpensive ingredients. She also provided a yoga demonstration. Crocitto believes that eating well and exercising contribute to a healthy mind and body, and will have a positive impact on the rest of the women’s lives as they move out of Eva’s Village. She plans to work on additional rooms at the shelter this summer. Crocitto will be a junior at Highlands this fall. (continued on page 29) Kaitlin Marie Clifford, Madaleine Olivia Crocitto, Lacey Loveman Davies, Amanda Jane Francis, and Ashley Chappell Kester. Eleven Upper Saddle River Girl Scouts recently earned the 2011 Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor a Girl Scout can achieve. Each girl completed an individual project designed to aid the community after completing 70 hours of leadership and career exploration; earning interest patches involving community service projects. The honorees include: Kaitlin Marie Clifford, Madaleine Olivia Crocitto, Lacey Loveman Davies, Amanda Jane Francis, Ashley Chappell Kester, Lillian Laiks, Larissa Marten, Cara Lynn Minichetti, Ashley Marie Pagano, Taylor Thornley Sivori, and Laura Marie Tantillo. Clifford, a member of Girl Scout Troop 1233, will be a junior at Northern Highlands High School this fall. For her Gold Award project, she organized and led a Back to School and Healthy Choices program. For her Silver Award project, she refurbished the playground at Camp YDP (Youth Development Program) in Paterson, but she wanted to do more. The focus of her Gold Award effort was to provide the children with school supplies, sports equipment, and a program about nutrition and exercise. Her goal was to send 100 children back to school with backpacks and all the supplies that they would need to start the year. She also wanted to provide them with a day filled with fun and valuable information. She saw that many children did not have a lot of room to exercise and did not always eat the best selection of food. She researched nutrition and put together a brochure about better health and used a science experiment to demonstrate how calories are burned. She also organized a soccer game to show that being active benefits good health. Nylon Frisbees and foam balls were donated, so the children could exercise in limited space. The Upper Saddle River Fire Department brought a fire truck to cool the children down after their day of activities and exercise. Clifford is planning another event with the children this summer. Crocitto is a member of Troop 945. Her project involved a complete remodeling of an enclosed porch at the Emergency Women’s Shelter at Eva’s Village in Paterson. Most of the shelter’s space is devoted to bedrooms, and Crocitto wanted to provide an area for residents to do things together. She located a back porch that was being used for storage, and updated the space from floor to ceiling. She and her volunteers removed old carpet, cleaned, sanded the windows and door moldings, spackled, fixed a broken window, and painted. She completed the room with new wall-to-wall carpeting and new CFL lights and fixtures. She refurbished three wicker chairs, made pillows, installed drapery rods and brackets, and made coordinating pinch-pleated draperies for all the windows. She added artwork, health magazines, and a TV, which can be used to view instructional material about yoga.