Local Girl Scout Created a Cookbook and Hosted a Food Drive with the Wrentham Food Pantry
Kate LaPaca
Warwick, R.I. (June 3, 2025)—Girl Scouts of Southeastern New England is excited and proud to announce that Kate LaPlaca from Wrentham, MA has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award in Girl Scouting. Kate’s Gold Award project is titled Food Pantry Recipe Book. Kate worked with the Wrentham Food Pantry for her Gold Award project.
Kate created a recipe book using foods commonly available at the food pantry. She compiled recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and dessert. She also kept in mind that the recipes should be healthy, easy to prepare, use simple ingredients, be family-friendly, and cost-effective. The name of the cookbook is “Cheap and Easy Meals”. She put together the ingredients for one of the recipes, Overnight Oats, in a large mason jar.
Kate incorporated her love of art and pottery into this project by making 35 handmade painted pottery bowls. She put together the cookbook, overnight oats, and pottery bowl, and they were handed out at the weekly food pantry pickup.
Kate also held a food donation drive that focused on collecting ingredients for one of the recipes featured in the cookbook—overnight oats. To ensure sustainability, Kate made the cookbook available online and partnered with the King Philip Mud Club for future donations. Find Kate’s Recipe Book here!
“Being a Gold Award Girl Scout will impact me for the rest of my life in so many ways. Knowing that only a small percentage of Girl Scouts achieve this highest award, it feels amazing.
Wrentham hasn’t had a Gold Award Girl Scout in many years. The pride of knowing that I achieved this honor will encourage me to have the perseverance and confidence to achieve many more difficult things in my future. It allowed me to complete an independent project that I oversaw, knowing I had the support of my leaders and mentors, but, ultimately, knowing that the project was my responsibility.
It also opened my eyes to realize that there are people in my community whom I was able to impact and help through my Gold Award project. Hearing that my project brought a smile to someone’s face, brightened their day, gave them some good meal ideas, and encouraged them to cook something new, made me realize that everyone can take action to make an impact on someone else.” said Kate LaPlaca, Gold Award Girl Scout.
About the Girl Scout Gold Award
Since 1916, Girl Scouts have been making meaningful, sustainable change in their communities and around the world while earning this award. The Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award in Girl Scouting, acknowledges the power behind each Gold Award Girl Scout’s dedication to not only empowering and bettering herself, but also to making the world a better place for others. These young women are courageous leaders and visionary change makers. They are our future, and it looks bright!
Kate will join the millions of Girl Scout alum around the world who have successfully created, developed, and executed “Take Action” projects that have positively impacted their communities and the world, earning Girl Scouts’ highest award.
Gold Award Girl Scouts become innovative problem-solvers, strong and empathetic leaders, confident public speakers, and focused project managers. They learn resourcefulness, tenacity, and decision-making skills, giving them an edge personally and professionally. As they take action to transform their communities, Gold Award Girl Scouts gain tangible skills and prove they’re the leaders our world needs. The 2025 Gold Award Girl Scout class identified issues in their communities, took action, and found or created solutions to earn their Gold Awards, addressing real-life problems such as environmental sustainability, racial justice, mental and physical well-being, and gender inequality in STEM.
According to recent research, Gold Award Girl Scouts are more likely to fill leadership roles at work and in their personal lives and are more civically engaged than their non-Girl Scout peers. Eighty-seven percent (87%) of Gold Award Girl Scouts agree that earning their Gold Award gave them skills that help them succeed professionally. Seventy-two percent (72%) said earning their Gold Award helped them get a scholarship. Changing the world doesn’t end when a Girl Scout earns her Gold Award. Ninety-nine percent (99%) of Gold Award Girl Scout alums take on leadership roles in their everyday lives.
Earning the Gold Award is just one of the amazing things girls and gender-expansive youth can do as part of Girl Scouts. To join Girl Scouts or learn more about volunteering, please visit www.gssne.org/join.
We Are Girl Scouts Girl Scouts bring their dreams to life and work together to build a better world. Through programs across Southeastern New England, girls and gender-expansive youth of all backgrounds and abilities can be unapologetically themselves in a safe space as they discover their strengths and rise to meet new challenges. Backed by strong friendships and trusted adult volunteers, mentors, and millions of alums, Girl Scouts lead the way as they find their voices and make changes that affect the issues most important to them. Girl Scouts feel comfortable trying new things without the pressure to be perfect, speaking their minds and processing their emotions in healthy ways. They discover how being different makes them special, strengthens their sense of belonging, and, ultimately, makes them proud to be themselves. That’s the magic of Girl Scouting. To join us, volunteer, reconnect, or donate, visit gssne.org, follow @gssne on Instagram, follow @GirlScoutsofSNE on Twitter, and like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GSSNE