Girl Scouts plant flowers at Lynbrook Irish Shop for community service

Every year Jennifer Derrig, the owner of the Irish Shop in Lynbrook, invites local Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts to earn their community service badges by planting flowers in front of her store. On May 20, Brownie Troop 2390 took advantage of the opportunity.

Members of the troop need the badge to show that they are benefitting the community, according to Toni Curtis, a co-leader of the troop. Planting flowers also enabled the Scouts to bond and be creative. “We gave them a little direction, but we wanted them to do it on their own,” Curtis said.

Now, she added, the girls pass by the shop and point out their creations to their friends. “They feel very proud that they’ve done something,” Curtis said.

This was not the first time that Scouts have beautified the village. Derrig has been offering the chance for them to earn their community service badges by planting flowers since 2011, one year after her store opened on Hendrickson Avenue. The idea came to her, Derrig said, because her daughter, Kiera, needed the community service badge. She then purchased flowers from West End Elementary School’s Parent Teacher Association and posted on Facebook about the opportunity. “It’s basically just giving back to the community,” Derrig said.

When the Scouts finished planting the flowers, Derrig rewarded their hard work with handmade goodie bags.

“It was really thoughtful what she did for the girls,” Curtis said.