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PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. Members of the Pleasantville Girl Scouts Troop 3011 kicked off an initiative Wednesday afternoon to raise money to install solar panels on the roof of the Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson headquarters building on Bedford Road.
These Girl Scouts conceived of this project on their own, educated themselves on the issues, developed a plan to raise funds and are now taking action to find a solution, said Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson CEO Pamela Anderson. We are so proud of their leadership.
The 11 sixth grade girls from Pleasantville took a tour of the headquarters last spring and learned about the buildings energy use. After, the girls set a goal to raise money to improve the buildings energy efficiency and hosted a tag sale last April at their troop leader Jeannemarie Vedovinos home.
The initial plan was to purchase covers for the buildings air conditioning units. However, after raising $1,000 from the tag sale, the girls decided to research larger projects and learned about alternative energy sources in their science class at Pleasantville Middle School.
Wednesday afternoon, the girls presented their check for $1,000 to Anderson, which will be put in a fund for the purchase of solar panels. The girls have made a pledge to raise $14,000 over the next two years to install 12 solar panels on the headquarters roof.
I think its amazing that they are taking the initiative to raise this money to help improve the building and theyre only 11 years old, Vedovino said.
Although the installation may be further down the road, members of Heart of the Hudson are grateful for the donation.
It wont be for a while yet, but eventually we expect to save hundreds of dollars annually due to their efforts in helping us become greener, said Pam Makin, director of property risk and management at the Heart of the Hudson headquarters.
Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson incorporates all Girl Scout troops in Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester counties. Troop 3011 is hoping it can receive help from the more than 15,000 Girl Scouts across Westchester and will reach out to other local troops to join them on this initiative.
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