CARIBOU, Maine — After two and a half years of diligent fundraising, Girl Scouts of Troop 709 were able to visit New York City for three days during an unforgettable trip that took them to the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and Broadway.
Sixteen girls and their six chaperones visited the City that Never Sleeps on August 8 through 11, with each girl raising $870 to participate. Each girl had her own thoughts about the trip’s particular favorites, but as a whole their top moments of the trip were seeing “The Lion King” on Broadway, visiting the 911 Memorial, visiting Planet Hollywood, and meeting Mary Valesco, a celebrity from the reality show “Cake Boss” — some of the girls even got their photos taken with a couple of male, shirtless Abercrombie and Fitch models.
“My favorite part was seeing ‘The Lion King’ with my three girls and watching their reactions to the show,” said Troop Leader Theresa Dube.
Whether it was Girl Scout Hallie Caron having the entire Planet Hollywood staff sing her “Happy Birthday” or the troop taking in the sights of Time Square, every ounce of time was spent immersed in New York City style — even though it may have been a little bit of culture shock at first.
Dube described how when their Cyr Bus first started rolling into the city, they were welcomed with a traffic jam and were running very behind for their dinner reservations at The Hard Rock Café.
Resultantly, the Mainers didn’t have any time to crane their necks toward the top of the skyscrapers and take in their surroundings — they had to hit the ground running through the New York City streets.
“It was a huge culture shock,” Dube explained with a smile, but the girls (and their chaperones) did quite well maneuvering the environment. They looked out for each other and set such a positive example, even shopkeepers couldn’t help but comment.
“Because the girls always said ‘please’ and ‘thank you,’ in the store people would say ‘you’re not from around here, are you?’” Dube said with pride. “They weren’t trying to impress anybody, they were just being themselves.”
Of course, by the time their final night in the city rolled around, the girls were feeling pretty comfortable in New York City — comfortable enough to start a couple of flash mob dances at Bryant Park.
In total, the scouts visited the 911 Memorial, the Statue of Liberty, Battery Park, FAO Schwarz, the Empire State Building, the American Girl Doll Store, Central Park, Time Square, Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken, N.J., St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Macy’s and their wooden escalator, the Toys“R”Us store with the Ferris Wheel inside, Planet Hollywood, the Hard Rock Café, Dallas BBQ , Rockefeller Plaza and the Lincoln Tunnel.
Dube said that the community as a whole, as well as different organizations, were paramount in helping the troop reach their fundraising goal.
“We did have some private donations which also helped out tremendously,” Dube said. “It was a trip of a lifetime for a lot of these girls.”
