By: Ireland P. and Madison M., Heart of the Valley Assembly
“Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day.” The girls of Heart of the Valley have kept very busy providing service this summer. In June, we spent time tying blankets, and making soft pillows and toys for the Shriners Hospital, and helped our local Daughters of the Nile Temple. In July, we spent over 200 hours at a fireworks booth being a show of force outside for one of our local Eastern Star Chapters. While we were there, we also painted pavers and stones to place in the Friendship Garden at Terry’s House, which was the benefactor of our Service OV.
We were pleased to perform the first Virtual OV with our sister assemblies of Visalia and Central Coast. It was fun to see how we could perform an OV even when we couldn’t be there in person. We were so happy to see so many visitors and Grand Officers online with us that day.
In August, we were pleased to have three members join our assembly at the first statewide virtual Initiation. Welcome to Kiana, Faith, and Emma! We are so glad to have new sisters. We also have two other girls waiting to join us, with one of them being a sister joining us after moving from Washington Rainbow. Gracie and Lacie, we also cannot wait to have you join us!
In September, we began to tie dye masks to give to those who may need new ones. We worked with FEMA who gave various non-profits masks to give out in their communities. We received 1000 masks and we are working to make them colorful. Our goal is to give them to Terry’s House, our local mission, and women’s shelters. This project will continue into October as girls get their friends and families to help them die these at home. We will also use this as a venue for membership.
We have been meeting virtually through Zoom© and trying to get in contact with each other frequently. Our goal is to keep our assembly thriving through our inability to meet in person. On September 26th, we attended our district’s youth protection training at our rea leadership training, another first for us and the state. The breakout room chats allowed the girls to express themselves and talk about bullying and how they can protect themselves while online. Afterwards, a few brave souls stayed on to make slime together. It was fun to see how creative all the girls were with making their own slime to play with.
We are anxiously awaiting the time when we can meet with each other in person. Until that time, watch out that you don’t get flocked by our flamingos and other birds! We are going to be starting this project to assist our WA, Haleigh, in her service project for Wildlife Rehabilitation. We will leave behind a bird house and some seeds for them to also help us feed the birds through the fall and early winter.
Small acts of service can cause ripples throughout your communities. BE creative and don’t hesitate to help. Keep looking for those golden opportunities of service that we can perform at home as individuals but collectively make a huge difference.
