Oak Ridge Today

Sister City Support Organization has annual meeting Oct. 22

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The Sister City Support Organization has scheduled the annual meeting for Thursday, October 22, at 6:30 p.m. in the Robertsville Middle School cafeteria.

Buffalo Tours, the California agency that is coordinating the 25th anniversary trip to Japan in July, is sending a representative to preview the trip and take deposits. SCSO will also have a slide show of photos from the 2015 exchange with Naka shi, Japan; discuss recent developments in their relationship with Obninsk, Russia, and elect officers. A member of the Friendship Bell structure renovation committee will give a status report on this project.

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Middle School Exchange with Naka shi, Japan, the Sister City Support Organization is planning a visit to Naka and tour of Japan.

“We are inviting any interested Oak Ridgers to join us,” a press release said. “It is especially important that we have representatives of the Oak Ridge city government and schools, SCSO members, previous Naka middle school travelers and host families. This is your turn to have the ‘Naka experience’ that so many students have enjoyed for 25 years.” [Read more…]

Meet Japanese Girl Scouts visitors on Thursday

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Japanese Girl Scouts Visitors

Naka Troop 37 Girl Scouts will visit Oak Ridge this month. Pictured above in front row from left to right are Aya Kusumi, Yuna Umino, Kaho Otsuki, Chiaki Sasashima, Ryoko Usui, Sumika Hara, and Ayaka Namatame.
Leaders in back from left to right are Michiyo Namba, Nozomi Takane, Shoko Oyake, Hatsue Kashimura, and Fujiko Fujisaku. (Submitted photos)

 

Submitted

The Oak Ridge Girl Scouts service unit, in cooperation with the Oak Ridge Sister City Support Organization, will be hosting a group of 12 girls and leaders from our sister city of Naka-shi, Japan. Current Girl Scouts and girls interested in joining a Girl Scouts troop are invited to come meet our Japanese sisters and help with a local Girl Scout service project.

On Thursday, July 31, the Japanese girls and their U.S. hostesses will be cleaning and dressing dolls for the Holiday Bureau’s “Dolls for Daisy” project. This meeting will be at the Oak Ridge Children’s library auditorium from 7:30-8:30 p.m. Girls are invited to come help with the dolls, welcome the Japanese Girl Scouts, and register for local troops for the upcoming school year. [Read more…]

Spotlight: Local Girl Scouts excel in community service

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Girls Scouts Reforestation

Cadette Troop 20737 planted trees to reforest a managed forest land on a private farm in Andersonville. From left to right are Savannah McNair, Megan McEahern, Hannah Tobler, Kasey Smith, landowner, and Brittany Wensell. (Photos courtesy Jerry Luckmann)

 

By Jerry Luckmann

Girl Scouts in Oak Ridge contributed more than 1,860 hours of community service during the past school year. Twenty-two troops, representing all ages and levels of Girl Scouting, tackled projects benefiting kids, local service organizations, veterans, senior citizens, and the environment.

The founder of Girl Scouts in the United States, Juliette Low, believed that community service offered Girl Scouts a unique opportunity to address community needs and develop leadership in every girl. The Girl Scouts in Oak Ridge have embraced this belief and worked to make it a vital part of every member’s experience.

Girls Scouts Food 4 Kids Project

Courtney Thomas, left, Daisy Girl Scout from Troop 20438, and Christina Thomas, Cadette Girl Scout from Troop 20148, sort and pack bags at the Food 4 Kids project.

Sixty girls and family members from nine troops participated in the Food 4 Kids project, packing monthly the nearly 2,000 bags of food that are given to children in Oak Ridge schools who need food at home on the weekends. More than 80 girls, representing eight troops, participated in the Dolls for Daisy project, to clean and refurbish hundreds of dolls for Christmas distribution at the Holiday Bureau. Girl Scouts donated health and beauty “goody bags” and Christmas decorations to the Free Medical Clinic of Oak Ridge. Environmental projects included recycling “Capri Sun” bags in a local school and planting trees to reforest land in Anderson County. [Read more…]

Sister City group has April 25 dinner for middle school exchanges with Japan

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge Naka-shi Middle School Exchange

Participants in the Oak Ridge/ Naka-shi, Japan 2013 Middle school exchange, frolic in the ocean on the Japanese coast. (Submitted photos)

The Sister City Support Organization, in cooperation with the City of Oak Ridge and Oak Ridge Schools, has sponsored the visit of middle school students to our sister city of Naka-shi, Japan, for 22 years.

In support of the 2014 Middle School exchange, the Sister City Support Organization is hosting a spaghetti supper on Friday, April 25. The supper will be held at the First United Methodist Church from 5:30-8 p.m. Student exchange participants and SCSO board members will don Japanese “happy coats” and kimonos to serve the main course and an array of delicious homemade desserts. [Read more…]