GALLIPOLIS — Two area Girl Scout Troops, Jackson Daisy Troop 406 and Gallipolis Junior Troop 515 joined forces to help cancer patients not only in their communities but in surrounding communities in southeastern Ohio.

The girls helping with this endeavor ranged in age from kindergarten through the eighth grade. The driving force behind this project was “To make a difference in peoples lives that had to deal with a life changing illness in Southeast Ohio.”

This project was started when a member of the community, Vicki Davis, decided she wanted to help cancer patients with head scarves, but did not feel she had the means to help the amount of people that really needed it. Davis approached Heidi Bowman, leader of Troop 406, and Bowman made calls to area hospitals to see if there was a need, receiving an overwhelming positive response. The ladies then approached the girls of both troops, who were very excited to be doing something of this magnitude.

The next step was to get the materials needed for the scarves. Bowman and her co-leader, Deanna Bragg, along with Cheryl Markley, one of the Gallipolis leaders and Bowman’s sister, went to different churches in their communities and asked for donations of material and thread to make the scarves. Again, the response was overwhelming.

Between the months of January and August, the girls worked several days on the project learning to measure, cut, iron, sew and fold the scarves. They even made cards with their photo and a special message to attach to each and every scarf to be given away. A total of 515 scarves were completed with the first scarf going to a lady in the Gallipolis area. She is, and has been, very active in the Gallia County Area of Girl Scouting and volunteered at the summer camp that troop 515 attended.

The girls delivered the scarves on Make A Difference Day to various hospitals in southeast Ohio including, Adena, Chillicothe; Holzer Clinic, Jackson; Obleness Cancer Center, Athens; Southern Ohio Medical Center, Portsmouth and Holzer Center for Cancer Care, Gallipolis.

A special thanks goes out to Christ United Methodist Church, Helen Lykins, Norma White, Vicki Davis and Linda Roach, Janelle Parsons — Troop 845 — Girl Scout Ambassador and the mothers from Troops 406 and 515 for making this a huge success.

“Ohio is the national leader on Make A Difference Day, the largest day of volunteering to meet community needs. Make A Difference Day Ohio (MDDO) has become a very successful, award winning initiative that has helped the Buckeye state lead the country in service projects each year since its inception. In 2008, over 1,000 Ohio projects were reported involving thousands of volunteers from every corner of the State.” (MDDO).