The Shawnee Girl Scout Council will offer a new achievement patch to Girl Scouts who work to educate themselves about domestic violence. The Council, which governs 15 counties in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, will debut the new patch at its annual meeting March 20.
Junior Troop 47 of Wiley Ford designed the patch, which is a turquoise round with the words “Stop Domestic Violence” written in red. The troop’s leader, Linda Bratcher belongs to the Mineral County Task Force on Domestic Violence and hopes that the new patch will help in educating the public about the pervasiveness of violence against women and children.
In order to earn the new patch, girls must be able to identify community resources that aid domestic violence survivors, must be able to identify the differences between healthy and unhealthy relationships, and must read a book or watch a movie about domestic violence. In addition, girls must learn non-violent, alternative dispute resolution methods and must perform service to benefit an organization that provides aid to domestic violence survivors.
