Kayla Mason, 17, a member of Girl Scout Troop 3288, has earned the prestigious Girl Scout Gold Award, symbolizing outstanding accomplishments in the areas of leadership, community service and advocacy. The Gold Award is the highest honor a Girl Scout can earn and is awarded to only about five percent of eligible Girl Scouts nationwide. Kayla is a senior at National Cathedral School and lives in Potomac, MD.

For her Gold Award project, Kayla renovated a children’s reading room and a conference room at Turning Point Center in Washington, DC. The reading room was renovated to include a chalkboard wall, large cork bulletin board, new bookcases and window treatments, two small work tables with chairs, and original artwork produced by the children. The conference room was painted and reorganized into a highly functional space. The large conference table and chairs were cleaned and repaired and an adjacent library was reconfigured for easier access to supplemental materials.  An original drawing by participants was framed and is now prominently displayed across from the entrance to the room.

Turning Point Center is a two-year residential program for homeless mothers and their children, designed to break the cycle of chronic homelessness and joblessness. All mothers in the program must be employed or enrolled in school, and services provided include case management, crisis intervention, individual and family counseling and independent living skills classes. More information is available at http://salvationarmynca.org/turning-point/