They say the best way to teach children good habits is to start when they are young. If that’s true, then the Junior Girl Scouts from Troop 2670, along with scouts from Plano and Allen, are well on their way to making the world a better place. The troop members are working toward their Bronze Award, the highest honor a Junior can earn, by volunteering at Mustang Creek Estates of Allen. Since January, the troop has been visiting the senior living community to spend time doing activities with the residents.

 The Bronze Award is given to scouts who create a plan for a project by identifying a need in the community and working to fulfill it. In this case, they are focusing on brightening the lives of seniors who live in the Mustang Creek Estates of Allen community. They have been visiting the community regularly to develop relationships with the seniors. The girls held a craft supply drive for the residents, and next week, on Saturday, April 23 at 2:00 p.m., they will gather at Mustang Creek Estates of Allen (720 Creek Valley Court outside House 1) to celebrate Earth Day together. The girls and residents will plant flowers and plants in specially-crafted, pyramid-style raised planter boxes designed to allow easy access for those in wheelchairs or who would prefer to garden while seated. As the Girl Scouts work toward their Bronze Award, their bonds with the seniors will blossom more and more, just the like gardens they will plant together in honor of the national holiday.

 “The girls are learning at a young age that mobility challenges, hearing loss or even memory loss doesn’t take away or devalue who a person is, and as a result, they have a higher respect for seniors in our community,” said Troop Leader Rachel Kirbie. “We chose to work with Mustang Creek Estates of Allen for our Bronze Award because we wanted to enrich the residents’ lives through making crafts and participating in other meaningful activities they enjoy. We know that intergenerational activities are as beneficial for the seniors as they are for our girls, so we were thrilled to start this partnership and continue to spend time together.”

 Junior Girl Scouts are in fourth and fifth grade, and this is the first major award a Girl Scout can earn. At a young age, the scouts must exhibit forthrightness and maturity well beyond their years in order to successfully earn the award. The troop decided to create a craft supply drive as part of their project to support the residents and give them additional supplies for their craft activities. The girls made announcements at their schools and churches about their list of supplies, and they collected items to donate to Mustang Creek Estates of Allen. In addition to doing crafts with the seniors, they also play Bingo and participate in other intergenerational activities alongside the residents.

 “I enjoy it when the Girl Scouts visit, and I am looking forward to planting flowers with them and seeing them outside of my window,” said Mustang Creek Estates of Allen resident Cecil Murray. “I grew up on a farm in San Augustine, Texas, and we raised cotton, peanuts and corn. I think it’s important to give back to the Earth because it has done so much for us, and we need to keep it in good shape for future generations.”

 Mustang Creek Estates of Allen values the community partnerships it has established over its 10 years of serving seniors in Allen, and recognizes the true impact volunteers have on the residents.

 “We love having the Girl Scout troop visit, and are so thankful they thought to choose our community as the site to earn the Bronze Award,” said Mustang Creek Estates of Allen interim executive director Angella Horton. “Many of our residents don’t have grandchildren in the area, so when kids from the community come to visit, it really makes their day. They look forward to their visits and are excited to work in the garden with the Girl Scouts.”

Mustang Creek Estates of Allen is celebrating 10 years of caring for seniors. This one-of-a-kind, residential assisted living and memory care community is the first of its type in Allen as well as the first community Mustang Creek Estates created.  To show its appreciation, the Mustang Creek Estates community decided to say “thanks” to the city it loves for a decade of support, involvement and compassion. For the month of November, the senior living community will be collecting food items that will be donated to Allen Community Outreach. These items will help feed hundreds of families as they celebrate the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays together. The senior living community, located at 720 Creek Valley Court in Allen, will accept the following cooking supplies through Monday, November 30^th: $15 grocery gift cards for turkeys, Bisquick or flour, sugar, corn meal/corn muffin mix, instant mashed potatoes, stuffing mix, canned gravy or gravy packets, creamed soups, cranberry sauce, canned vegetables, canned yams, marshmallows, canned fruit, canned pie filling, pie crust mix, canned pumpkin, canned evaporated milk and Jello-O gelatin and pudding mixes. These items can be dropped off at any of the six homes in the community. The senior residents, staff and their families are thankful to the surrounding community for their success and invite them to participate with them as they enter into a new decade of serving Allen’s seniors.

 “Over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, we feed about 500 families, and this holiday food drive ensures that the families we serve have a traditional holiday meal together with their loved ones,” said Glenda May, Allen Community Outreach executive director. “We are in urgent need of supplies, as we currently have not received any donations for our holiday food drive. We rely on public donations to make this possible, and we hope that the Allen community will support Mustang Creek Estates of Allen’s donation drive in any way it can. I think that it’s wonderful that seniors are making an effort to give back to their community and commemorate the anniversary of their opening in this way.”

 Mustang Creek Estates of Allen’s intimate size allows the staff and residents to get to know each other personally. They have found that it is overwhelmingly important to the residents to remain active and give back in unique and supportive ways.

 “We are proud to serve Allen families and couldn’t think of any better way to celebrate this achievement than to hold this drive and help families who live nearby,” said Tegjula Hilburn, executive director of Mustang Creek Estates of Allen. “We know that there are many families in Collin County that rely on the Allen Community Outreach programs and services to help rebuild their lives, and we’re proud to support this organization in any way we can. As we move into a new decade of hospitable, residential care, we want to make it a priority to assist the numerous people and organizations that make Allen special.”