Girl Scouts help paint houses

Members of Girl Scout troop #366 help paint three new Habitat houses. Ashley Lanier is atop the ladder surrounded by (l-r) Lindsay Beltram, Emily Colburn, Christa Colburn and Megan Hamel. photo by Tom Chace

A high school honor student and senior member of the Girl Scouts organized a group of half a dozen other scouts and an equal number of parents and adults to help paint and landscape three new Sisters Habitat houses last weekend, July 19-20.

Ashley Lanier, a senior at Bend High School and a 10-year member of the Girl Scouts, organized the two-weekend project with other members of Troop 366, parents, friends of her parents and scout leaders.

They showed up early Saturday morning and went right to work painting the exterior of one of three new houses at Larch and St. Helens streets, near downtown Sisters.

"All our materials were donated," said Lanier, "and Sisters merchants helped us with food and other things so all we had to do was prepare and paint."

The job did have professional supervision but the forest green paint was expertly applied and the trim finish showed nary a drip.

The group worked from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. and then returned Sunday to finish the job. Next weekend they will come back again to put in the landscaping.

Ruth Peterson, a resident of Black Butte Ranch and long-time Habitat board member, is chairman of the landscaping committee and coordinator for this project.

"We'll bring in five pallets of sod on Friday ready for the girls and others to put down on Saturday, July 26," Peterson said.

Part of the work in both painting and landscaping is done by family members recruited by the Girl Scouts and troop leaders and their friends.

"We think we'll have a number of fathers who will bring gardening tools and help prepare the soil along with their daughters. Mothers will be helping, too; if not gardening, they'll prepare lunch and other things," she said.

What is not finished with sod will be covered with bark, "to make the homes look nice from the street for the neighbors and to be part of a pleasant neighborhood," Peterson said.

Working on the project are girl scouts Emily Colburn, an adult scout, and senior scouts Megan Hamel, Jennifer Lazio, Lindsay Beltram, Kelly Krops and Laura Guiley.

Also volunteering are Christa Colburn, a junior girl scout, her brother Neal and mother Patti Jo, leader of Girl Scout Troop 768 and Ashley's volunteer mentor.

"Ashley is a 3.8 honor student," said Colburn, "and has been a member of the Youth Choir of Central Oregon for eight years. She is also a member of Jazz Dynamics at Bend High School.

"I've known her since she was a little girl and she is remarkable," she said.

Lanier covets the Silver Award, second highest in Girl Scouting. She earned her Brownie Award as an eighth grader organizing a "Sock Hop for over 150 girls with an overnight sleep-out at the High Desert Middle School."

She hopes to attend Southern Oregon University in Ashland in 2004.

"Mrs. Colburn helps me tremendously as a mentor. She acts like a second brain," Lanier said. "When I get lost, she heads me back in the right direction."

Lunch for this community activity was provided by Papandrea's Pizzeria and Coyote Creek Cafe. Soft d rinks came from Ray's Food Place. The Bright Spot brought coffee and Costco provided muffins. The paint came from Home Depot.

Marie Clasen, from Sisters, coordinated the painting activity for Habitat for Humanity.

The homes being worked upon now are numbers 25, 26, and 27, all in the Sisters area.