GILROY — Several employees at Saint Louise Regional Hospital
waited at the front doors last Wednesday afternoon, hoping for a
chance to meet the girl who had worked so hard to help people she
had never met.
GILROY — Several employees at Saint Louise Regional Hospital waited at the front doors last Wednesday afternoon, hoping for a chance to meet the girl who had worked so hard to help people she had never met.
They had all heard about the efforts of Girl Scout Cadet Casie Falletta, a 13-year-old from Morgan Hill, and wanted to congratulate her. Falletta was bringing them their own children’s library.
When she showed up at the hospital with all her books, the hospital came out singing their praises.
“Here’s our miracle worker,” Sister Mary Peter Diaz exclaimed.
Falletta, a student from St. Catherine’s School in Morgan Hill who is a member of Troop 701 of Almaden in San Jose, raised 574 children’s books through donations from other students and members of the church. Some of the books went to the Teen Mom’s Learning Center and the Santa Clara County Children’s Center, but 320 of them went to Saint Louise, which before didn’t have any books for youngsters to read.
“It’s really going to help,” said James Roosevelt, director of development for the hospital. “This is going to be our library.”
For Falletta, who has been in Girl Scouts since she was in kindergarten almos tnine years ago, what began as a project that would help her earn a Silver Award, the biggest award that can be earned by a Cadet Girl Scout.
“It started at a Girl Scout meeting,” she said. “It’s a really big activity or something for the community that has to be at least 30 hours.”
So far, the project has taken her well past that 30-hour mark, as she is currently at 38 hours.
“I’m not done yet, either,” said Falletta, who still needs to do a presentation on her project. But what came to a close last week at Saint Louise through the donation of the books began with Falletta making a phone call to the hospital.
“Actually, I didn’t (know they needed the books),” Falletta said. “I had to call.”
When Falletta called Saint Louise to see if there was anything that would fit her 30-hour project, she was told about the hospital’s need for a library.
“She said it would be great to get some books,” Falletta said.
So the scout got to work, writing out her proposal to the Girl Scout Council and to St. Catherine’s for approval. Then she started sending out flyers telling people when and where they could donate books.
“I made about 350 copies,” she said.
During the school book fair Falletta also dressed up in a Clifford The Big Red Dog costume, not an experience many 13-year-old girls would be too excited about.
“It was hot,” Falletta said.
The books that were collected during the fair range in reading level from ages 2 to 12.
“We broke it up,” said Falletta, who tired to get as many different types of books as possible for all the different kids who will use them. Most of the books are new or in excellent condition, she said.
Books will be kept at the volunteer desk for the more than 10,000 children that have either in-patient or out-patient stays at Saint Louise.
“It’s something that will help keep the kids occupied,” said Vivian Smith, director of public and community relations at Saint Louise. “A lot of kids come in and don’t have anything to do.”
Falletta said she learned a lot about how much effort it takes to volunteer, but said it was worth the experience
“I learned that it takes a lot of work to do something like this,” Falletta said. “But it feels good to do it.”
