HOLMES BEACH – Intended to reduce beach debris and assist sea turtle hatchlings, the new “beach toy borrow box” at the 68th Street beach access is the work of 16-year-old Girl Scout, Lakewood Ranch resident and frequent Holmes Beach visitor Zoe Lander.
When embarking on the Gold Award project that earned her the prestigious Gold Award Girl Scout status on Aug. 5, Lander’s goal was to help prevent discarded beach toys from polluting the beach and making it more difficult for sea turtle hatchlings to make their way to the Gulf waters, while also providing beach toys for beachgoers to use, share and return to their proper place.
A visit to the beach toy borrow box on Aug. 7 revealed it was filled with flotation devices, an inflation pump, a wakeboard, pails, shovels and other beach items and toys. Speaking by phone earlier that day, Lander discussed her Gold Award project with The Sun.
Lander is a member of Girl Scout Troop #574, which is part of the Girl Scouts of Gulfcoast Florida. Lander said she joined the Girl Scouts when she was in kindergarten (making her a “daisy”) and she remains a scout as she heads into her junior year at Lakewood Ranch High School on Aug. 11 as a Gold Award Girl Scout at the “ambassador” grade level.
“A few years ago, I did a Little Free Library at a park where I live and the concept is ‘Take a book, leave a book.’ That’s kind of the idea I had for this project,” she said, noting that her mom, Alice Lander, helped her further develop her idea.
The sign on the borrow box says:
“City of Holmes Beach
Beach Toy Borrow Box
Need a toy? Take a toy!
Have a toy? Leave a toy!”
The sign bears the “Leave No Trace” motto used by the Holmes Beach-based Islanders 4 Clean Water initiative and says, “Please use plastic shovels only and fill in your holes when you leave.”
A note at the bottom of the sign says, “A special thanks to Zoe Lander for designing and building our first beach toy borrow box.”
“We are so fortunate to have conservation-minded young adults in our community,” Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth said. “This young lady saw a problem, came up with a solution and saw it through to completion. She is an inspiration to all like-minded kids. I’m so proud of her!”
Golden journey
According to “Your Guide to Going Gold” posted at the GirlScouts.org website, “The Girl Scout Gold Award is a ‘Take Action’ project that must include five elements. Your project must: 1) address a root cause of an issue that you feel passionate about that has a 2) national and/or global link. Through your actions, you must demonstrate 3) leadership while also creating 4) sustainable and 5) measurable impact.”
The guide also says, “Do this for you – not for anyone else! This isn’t your parent’s or troop leader’s project. The Gold Award is an opportunity to harness your passion and put your ideas into motion. It’s challenging. It’s immensely rewarding. And it’s entirely up to you. As a bonus, the Gold Award opens doors to a variety of scholarships, preferred admission tracks for college, strong networking and amazing career opportunities and much more.”
“It’s the highest award you can achieve as a Girl Scout and it shows your accomplishment,” Lander said. “The first part of my project was contacting Holmes Beach to find an appropriate location.”
Her first contact with the city was Digital/Media Strategist Matt McDonough.
“I emailed him and told him about the Gold Award and what I was trying to do. After that, I went out to the beach access points to look at them and to find which one was the best for the bin,” Lander said.
“She reached out to me and explained what she wanted to do to make some kind of change in the community to earn her Gold Award,” McDonough said. “I ran it by the mayor, we both loved it and we worked out the logistics of getting it out there and getting it installed. I think it’s a great idea and it’s really cool to see a kid from the community caring about this.”
Assisted by her dad, Michael, she assembled the wooden bin and painted it with Flex Seal paint to make it more weather resistant.
“My dad helped a lot with creating the bin,” Lander said of the construction project that unfolded in the family garage this summer.
“We put it in my mom’s mini-van,” she said of the delivery method that led to the borrow box being installed at the 68th Street beach access on July 10.
Crafting the message for the sign on the borrow box was an important part of Lander’s first experience with a local government.
“I had some ideas for the sign and I reached out to Matt to make sure that it matched the rest of Holmes Beach and fit in with the other signs,” Lander said. “I explained what I wanted and he made it come to life for me. The sign is way to let people know not to leave behind holes and the bin itself helps keep stuff off the sand so the sea turtles can make it to the water.”
