American Heritage Girls
from the Lebanon Express
American Heritage Girls, a Christian-centered scouting
organization, is forming a group in Lebanon. The first meeting for interested
girls and their parents, will be at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 27, at the
Sodaville Evangelical Church.
Angi Train, who lives with her husband and three daughters near Sodaville,
started the local program and is seeking members and troop leaders for the
group. Train is the Linn County coordinator.
“The group is about little girls learning how to be little girls. They will learn how to cook and sew, kind of like ‘Little House on the Prairie,'” Train said.
American Heritage Girls (AMG) was founded in 1995
in Ohio by parents who wanted a scouting-like program focused on Judeo-Christian
values. The Lebanon group will follow the same guidelines as the non-profit AHG
program, providing life skills, leadership skills and character building through
a troop setting.
Camping and Bible verse memorization, along with other projects, will earn the
girls badges. This AMG group, when formed, will be the third group in Oregon.
There are hundreds of other groups in the east, Train said.
Members will participate in three service projects. One of the projects is
called HUGS or Heritage Girls United Giving Service. For the project, the group
works with Wal-Mart to gather items for local foster children. Another project
will be making blankets for homeless people in the area. The third project will
be to gather food for shelters. The group has the option to adopt their own
projects as well, Train said.
American Heritage Group is a nonprofit organization “dedicated to the mission
of building women of integrity through service to God, family, community and
country and will include multi-level merit badges, service projects, girl
leadership opportunities and outdoor experiences,” according to the website at
http://ahgonline.org.
The different levels in AHG are Pathfinder
(kindergarten), Tenderfoot, Explorer, Pioneer and Patriot (grades 9-12).
The cost for joining is $22. Some scholarships are available.
For more information, call 258-8939