Girl Empowerment Program Girl Scouts of Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan (GSSEM) put their mark on the Detroit Service Center location at Brewery Park, near Eastern Market.
Painting, with a GSSEM Twist
Girl Empowerment Program (GEP) Girl Scouts worked with Amanda Koss, a Dearborn-based abstract expressionist, in finishing a mural the artist designed for the Brewery Park parking structure.
When a friend suggested including Girl Scouts in the painting, Koss embraced the idea. As Art Curator for the Brewery Park campus, Koss enjoys collaborating with others as well as volunteering in unique ways, like this joint venture with GSSEM and the Outdoor Education team.
“The Girl Scouts were a part of the actual painting process, earned their Outdoor Art Badge, and hopefully will remember this experience for a lifetime,” Koss said. “Plus, Brewery Park gets one mural closer to their goal of wall-to-wall murals in their parking structure.”
Green Thumbs
The second Brewery Park project GSSEM is involved in will be coming to harvest soon, literally.
Since the spring, GEP Girl Scouts have been tending two of four raised garden beds that Eric Walters, Director of Facilities at Brewery Park, and his team installed along the walking path.
“We’ve been hard at work taking care of the garden beds and have actually already been able to enjoy some of the harvest — crunchy, delicious and healthy kale,” said Paige Wigren, GSSEM Lead Outdoor Education Program Specialist and coordinator of both projects.
The girls will partner with a local chef to make their own salsa, multi-purpose herbal salve, and dried tea bags with the bounty. The girls will also learn how to collect, dry, and inventory their own veggie seed catalogs in hopes that come next winter/early spring, the girls will have their very own seeds to start plants from scratch, Wigren said.
“I’m a little jealous that theirs are doing so much better than ours,” laughs Walters.
“We have high hopes that Brewery Park will continue to incorporate our Girl Scouts in their property improvement projects,” said Wigren. “Experiences like these are incredibly beneficial to our Girl Scouts and allows them to try so many different things.”
