Girl Scout Emily Gruener, the 17-year-old daughter of Vice President and Controller David Gruener and his wife Christine, is an avid reader with a passion for promoting literacy, especially among children. Her obsession with reading began in first grade when she read the first Harry Potter book and has grown throughout her life. "Reading, for me, has been the key to spurring my imagination and has helped me throughout my education," said Emily.
Knowing how her strong reading skills have benefited her throughout her school years was top-of-mind when she was a freshman and deciding how she planned to make a difference in the lives of others through her Girl Scout service. She knew then she would develop an application for the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor in Girl Scouting. It symbolizes outstanding accomplishments in the areas of leadership, community service, career planning and personal development.
Active in cross country track and serving as class secretary, it wasn't until her junior year that Emily had her "light bulb" moment of realizing just how she'd like to promote literacy to children. She developed a plan to create a space for children to read. "Of course there would be books, but the area needed to be inviting to encourage the children to relax and soak in the knowledge," explained Emily. She then began the 2011 Girl Scout Gold Award application process. "First, I had to complete the application, which really helped with developing the implementation plan," said Emily.
Next up was the design phase that took a bit long and included collecting donations for all the materials to build a welcoming environment and the books. Before identifying the recipient organization, Emily began networking and communicating her desire to collect items. One of her greatest benefactors was the Friends of the Houston Public Library that donated the majority of the books that were quickly filling the dining room of the Gruener's home.
"Boxes were everywhere for a good part of a year while Emily was busy collecting books and furniture," said Christine Gruener. It was now time to find a worthy recipient organization. "Knowing that the Charities funds a number of programs to help at-risk children, I called Gail Bray to get a few referrals for Emily," added Mr. Gruener. The after school program at St. John's La Porte was among the organizations recommended by Charities Executive Director Patricia Gail Bray, PhD.
"We applaud Emily's Gold Award honor and are delighted with her selection of St. John's as the recipient of this community gift that will benefit 100 at-risk children and families in one of our most vulnerable areas. Coupled with mentoring, tutoring, music and sign language classes, the Reading Room advances our shared mission to aid children in becoming productive members of the community," said Dr. Bray.
On Saturday, April 2, the Gruener family built the Reading Room and Monday the children were thrilled with the new addition. "The kids immediately made a beeline to the room and grabbed the books. Some were so enthralled that they didn't even want to go outside to play," said St. John's Program Director Kathy Buskirk.
"I so look forward to following Emily's future, in addition to her outstanding work with the Girl Scouts, she was just recently awarded one of the inaugural 40 Acres Scholars scholarships at UT Austin," said Dr. Bray of Emily who will be attending UT fall 2011.
