Page 16 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • February 8, 2012 Silver Award (continued from page 12) an EMT to help a senior in distress. Madden developed the idea after talking with her father, who is a police officer. Troop 798 members Gabriele Gneiding and Rebecca Malz spearheaded a Clothes and Necessities Drive for Shelter Our Sisters. Over seven carloads of toys, clothes, supplies, and furniture were collected over a six-hour span. The women living in the center were grateful for the muchneeded items. One woman immediately loaded a crib into her van, and the children were outside playing on the rocking horses and bikes. Creative Crafting for Seniors was presented by Erica Nagotko and Jaclyn Nagotko, both of Troop 1378. The project addressed the issue of senior loneliness and boredom. Loneliness is a growing problem because people are living longer, many without their spouses. Due to the economy, family and friends cannot visit as often. To help alleviate this problem, the Nagotkos held arts and crafts classes at Brighton Gardens Assisted Living Center in Saddle River using materials available to seniors in their everyday lives. Participants learned how to transform coffee cans, sticks, string, paper plates, and other common items into beautiful useful crafts. Four Girl Scouts from Troop 1311, Ava J. Bertone, Alexia Ghelfi, Kristen Grotheer, and Kathleen A. Larkin, worked together on the Making Holidays Happy project. The goal was to provide gifts to 100 children within the Youth Consultation Services of Bergen County. Many of these children were in the program due to removal from their homes for various reasons. Through fundraising, gift drives, and gathering donations, the troop made trick-or-treat bags of candy, purchased each child a pair of new pajamas, provided each child with a Valentine’s Day gift bag, and supported the YCS Olympics at Ramapo College. As wards of the state, children with the YCS cannot go trick-or-treating, so the Halloween goody bags were especially valued by the kids. The troop made it a point to wrap and tag each holiday gift beautifully. The troop also had much help from parents, siblings (especially John Grotheer, a master wrapper), and from the Mahwah community. Sixteen students from Mahwah High School have been accepted into the 2012 Bergen County High School Band and two students from Mahwah High School were accepted into the 2012 Bergen County High School Chorus, which performed at Westwood High School. The students were the winners of competitive auditions of hundreds of students from 35 Bergen County school districts. The number of Mahwah students in the Bergen County Band set a record. Front row: Melissa Brauner (chorus), Emily Galow, Laura Rann, and Bianca D’Agostaro. Second row: Ryan Lasker (chorus), Deanna Lee, Brett Magliola, and Nick Kosmala. Third row: Daniel Galow, Yaeji Chang, Jammie Xie, Matthew Busch, and Kerri Walter. Back row: Thomas Galow, April Lohmann, Kyle Dubiel, David Choi, and Mr. Jeffrey Bittner (Mahwah High School Band director). Not pictured: Jennifer Li. Record-setting roster