By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO — Twelve-year-old Meghan Case appreciates the resources around her like the Planet Earth and the Casco Village Library. 

Her Silver Award for Girl Scouts encompasses both those things. 

Her plan helps people reduce using plastic bags by giving out free, recyclable book bags to library patrons. Each time a person picks out a book bag, he or she signs a plastic-free pledge. 

By the way, the book bags are homemade.

Already, Case has sewn 80 bookbags using donated fabric. Case asked a local quilting group to sew another 80 bags, which have been completed. Case still has another 40 to sew. That’s a total of 200 bookbags.

A resident of Casco, Case belongs to Girl Scout Troop #587, which is a mix of Juniors and Cadettes. Any girl who decides to earn a Silver Award must submit paperwork, and must have the project approved by the Girl Scouts of Maine. Then, the girl must document all the hours that she works. Also, any girl earning the award must select a mentor. Longtime scout Dana Pyr stepped in as Case’s mentor. 

Case explained what inspired her to choose this particular cause for her Silver Award. 

“During the pandemic, the library made a pickup window and they were passing the books to people in line. I have seen a plastic bag break right in the middle of taking it to someone’s car. And then, they would forget to pick up the bag and the bag would pretty much blow off with the wind,” she explained.  

“My solution: to make however many cloth bags to help replace the plastic bags so that people can use their own bags to pick up books,” she said. “It was pretty much that I would try to eliminate the amount of plastic bags that are being used in Casco, through the library.”

Patrons of the library can get a bookbag for free as long as they sign the Earth Day pledge. The pledge says: “I will help in the effort to eliminate the use of plastic bags in the Casco Library for at least one year.” 

REAP WHAT YOU SEW 

Meghan Case taught herself how to sew by watching an online instructional video.

“I have taken a couple classes. It was an online sewing class. So I had sewed before I started this,” she said, adding she has sewn a shirt and blocks for a quilt.  

Sewing 120 bookbags and asking someone else to sew another 80 was only one part of earning the Silver Award.

So far, the easiest and most pleasurable task has been creating the poster for her bookbag display at the library.

“I enjoyed doing the poster the most,” she said.  

The most difficult?

“Probably sewing and yes contacting people that I had never met before,” she said.  

“I had to contact a whole bunch of fabric companies. I was worried that I would not get enough fabric. Originally, my goal was 50 book bags. And, I had gotten way more [material] than I thought I would,” Case said. “The total number that will end up being sewn will be like 200.”

An important part of earning the Silver Award is that the Girl Scout does everything on her own, including asking for donations and help from others. The Girl Scout must shoulder the majority of the work but also demonstrate leadership skills by getting assistance and donations from others.

“I took however many yards of fabric, and I had to cut it all. I had to sew it all. I had asked them to help me sew some bags, some reusable bags but I cut all the fabric,” Case said.

“On my own, probably it would take me at least a week to a week-and-a-half to sew all the bags. For one, it takes about 20 to 30 minutes,” she estimated. 

Whenever she has some free time, she sews another bookbag or two, she said. 

“I use a stopwatch to keep track of how long I sew for,” she said. “To finish the project, have to fill out final report paperwork, so they can go over my hours and other things to make sure I earned it.”

Meghan’s mom Amy added, “The proposal process is quite strenuous in terms of the paperwork.” 

Amy prompted her daughter to talk about the sustainable portion of the project. 

“One of the requirements for Silver Award is it has to be sustainable,” Case said. “When I am sewing one of these bags, I will make a video of how to make it. Community members and Girl Scout will have access to it, so they can sew bags for libraries.”