Milford Girl Scout Troop 44336 Collects 320,000 Caps for Benches to Honor their Classmate

On Monday, May 23, 2022, Milford Girl Scout Troop 44336 gathered at Miami Township's Community (Leming House) Park and the Harmon family residence to dedicate twin sister-benches in honor of classmate Leighana Harmon, a Meadowview student who passed away in a car accident in 4th grade.

When the Girl Scouts learned that bottle caps and lids are too small for recycling plants to reprocess they decided to turn the waste into something positive for their community. They started the process to collect caps from their families, neighbors, community, and local businesses. They rallied other Milford schools, made school announcements, and regular collections in classrooms, cafeteria, and lounge. 

Girls coordinated storage, sorted, weighed, and documented inventory. They took a six-hour road trip on a day off school to Evansville, IN to convert the landfill fodder into usable benches. The students collected more than 320,000 water bottle caps for the two benches and devoted almost 600 boxes of girl scout cookie sales to pay for the benches. 

These benches will serve as a symbol of lasting friendship and continued sisterhood.    

Troop 44336 began as Girl Scout Daisies in kindergarten, 2015. Over half of the troop are six-year members. They collected caps/lids from Meadowview, Boyd E. Smith, and McCormick Elementaries. These Girl Scouts earned their Bronze Award for this project, the highest achievement for Junior rank.