Flamingo flocking fun for funds
There's some flocking going on, but it's all for a good cause.
Lewes Mayor Jim Ford and his wife, Teresa, on Savannah Road were among the first victims.
Lewes Girl Scouts in Troop 482 and Troop 485 have kicked off a major fund-raising effort with the aid of pink flamingos. They will be placing the plastic flock around town to raise money for a 2016 trip to Europe to make good on a promise by Troop Leader Janet Maher.
“The girls started together in kindergarten, and I told them if they would stay together in Girl Scouts until high school as seniors, between their junior and senior years we would take them on the trip of a lifetime to Europe,” Maher said.
The group of Scouts is now in seventh and eighth grades.
The troops will have a fund-raiser each month leading up to the trip as each girl must raise $4,000. Maher said with a profit of 70 cents per box of cookies, it would take a lot of sales to come close to raising the necessary funds. A quick check of math shows that each girl would need to sell more than 5,700 boxes to raise $4,000.
The girls will sell cookies, but they will also be selling nuts, candy and magazines; holding bake sales, car washes and dinners; baby sitting on Black Friday; and providing gift wrapping during the holiday period.
Four of the original girls – Katie Maher, Mia Moshier, Hannah Lowe and Erin Gallageher – are still in scouting. Keeping her promise, Maher has organized a 16-day adventure to Europe for the girls in the summer of 2016. While on their European adventure, the girls will visit two World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts centers – Pax Lodge in London and Our Chalet in Bernese Oberland, Switzerland. The girls will also travel to Paris and Rome.
So far, Maher said, 10 girls have registered to go. In October, the trip will be open to all Girl Scouts in the Cape Henlopen School District and later to all Girl Scouts in the council with a goal of taking 36 girls to Europe.
In September, flocking will continue throughout the City of Lewes as people make a $20 donation to flock a friend, pay $5 to have the plastic flamingos removed or pay $5 for insurance to keep the tacky lawn ornaments from coming back.
Under the dark of night, girls and adult volunteers will move the flamingos to different sites. During the raid of the Ford's yard they were caught pink-handed in the act of flocking. “The Fords caught us, but they were real good sports about it,” Maher said.
To flock someone, phone Maher at 302-258-3327. "Of course we realize not everyone will appreciate our sense of humor, and if you are flocked and simply want the flock removed please call us, and we will be right out to pick up the birds,” Maher said.
