Local girl scouts raise money, travel to Paris

Jessica Luton
The Union-Recorder

May 08, 2009 08:00 am

— Local senior Girl Scout Troop 807 took a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Paris this year for spring break.
The five-person troop, along with Girl Scout leaders Patsy Satterwhite and Judy Carlisle, took a nine-day trip to Paris after many hours of fundraising events, said Satterwhite.
“We earned all the money ourselves by selling a bazillion boxes of cookies and doing a lot of workshops for other Girl Scouts in the area,” she said. “We had about 85 girls come to a workshop, and we entertained them all night.
“These girls really worked. We did a lot of little things and some big things and it all added up,” added Satterwhite.
The trip meant more to the girls because they had raised the money themselves.
“We really did respect it more,” said Girl Scout Troop member Haley Carlisle.
The Girl Scout Troop got lucky and found a flight to Paris for $650 and slept on the floor at Satterwhite’s daughter’s apartment in Paris, said Satterwhite.
In addition, most of the activities they did were free and the group picnicked a lot while there to save money, she said.
Before the trip, the girls immersed themselves in everything Parisian, said Satterwhite.
“We spent all year talking about Paris and studying Paris,” she said. “The girls gave presentations on food, culture, art, Versaille and many other topics.”
In the end, the preparation really made the trip special to the girls, she said.
“It meant more to them when we did things because they knew all about the things we were doing,” said Satterwhite.
The trip was an opportunity for the girls to learn a lot of important life skills, but also served as a cultural study for them, said Satterwhite.
From navigating the metro and encountering a unisex bathroom to eating the delicacies of French food such as Nutella, pain au chocolate and madelines, the girls tasted a host of new food while they were there, said Satterwhite.
The girls also took quite an interest in French fashions, stopping at local French boutiques to purchase unique items, she said.
The trip included a visit to the Eiffel Tower, the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, the Sacre Cour Cathedral, Versaille, Chiverny and the Catacombs of Paris to name a few, and each girl had their favorite attraction, said Satterwhite.
As soon as we got home, we wanted to go back, she said.
“It was the trip of a lifetime,” she said.
The trip was made possible thanks to the help of Melanie Satterwhite, a former Girl Scout and Paris resident, and Charlotte Williamson, the field executive of the Baldwin County Service Unit, she said.
Anyone interested in joining Girl Scouts for fall 2009 can call Patsy Satterwhite at (478) 968-5676 or (478) 457-7749 or e-mail her at patsysatterwhite@hotmail.com. Adult volunteers are also welcome.

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