(L–R Joan Piercy – Girl Scouts of CT Gold Award Mentor; Tom Bissell – Elisa Mucci’s Gold Award liaison, connecting youth ministry suburban teens to continue visiting the Marshall House on an ongoing basis; Capt Christine Glasco – Greater Hartford Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary liaison; Sandra Bobowski – President of Greater Hartford Women’s Auxiliary, the organization that funded this Gold Award effort; Elisa Mucci – Gold Award recipient; and Zach Pluym, Kyle Scanlon, Christian Pluym, and Samantha DiTomasso - the "artists" from Farmington who helped create the artwork.)

Project Complete!

Marshall House Shelter Holds Reception to Celebrate
Elisa Mucci’s Girl Scout Gold Award Project.

HARTFORD – The Salvation Army Women's Auxiliary of Greater Hartford funded an activity last summer at the Marshall House Shelter to enrich the lives of the families and children that live there. The project was part of Elisa Mucci’s Girl Scout Gold Award, which represents the highest achievement in Girl Scouting – open only to girls in high school. This prestigious award challenges girls to change the world—or at least their corner of it and the Marshall House Shelter and its families were certainly the beneficiaries of the project.

In the end, animal-themed wall murals, chalkboards, and bulletin boards were created to provide a place to draw and display artwork created by the children/teens living at the Marshall House. Suburban teens, along with residents, created the artwork as part of a mural painting class. The teens also visited the shelter periodically to run activity evenings with the residents, as an ongoing component of this project.

To celebrate the completion of the project, a reception was held on June 2 at the shelter. The proud parents, Dr. Dave and Jeanne Mucci, were in attendance, along with their daughter, Elisa. There were many invited guests, friends, and families and children from the shelter there. Many of the "artists" and their friends also attended and participated in what was a wonderful reception for a thoughtful project that will benefit the Marshall House for years to come.