Instead of just earning badges, the fifth-grade Girl Scout troop from Mt. Bethel Elementary School in east Cobb is making a difference in our community. The troop adopted the Sunrise Senior Living Center on Johnson Ferry Road and spent their year planning activities to better the residents' lives.

In the fall, the troop conducted a holiday sing-along and cookie-decorating party with the residents of the center. They made decorations by hand, created a songbook of holiday carols, secured donated gift cards from Kroger and Publix for door prize drawings, made homemade cookies, cakes and other desserts, and engaged a volunteer pianist to play while more than 35 residents sang.

In January, the girls developed pictures from the event and made posters to hang at the center so everyone could relive the fun.

On May 8, the girls unveiled a new outdoor sitting area that they planned and completed with the help of donations from Home Depot on Roswell Road Marietta, Metro Awards in Sandy Springs, Pike's Nursery in Marietta and Chattahoochee Home & Garden.

Their year of service has earned the girls the Girl Scout Bronze Award, the highest honor awarded by a Junior Girl Scout.

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The 10 Women of Hope conducted their second Annual Mother-Daughter Brunch, "Generations of Love" on May 1 at Zion Baptist Church. Spirit Song provided spiritual musical entertainment as 100-plus women enjoyed brunch and keynote speaker, Judge Juanita Stedman, who gave an inspirational speech about "The Women Who Make us Who We Are."

The fundraiser supports the 10 Women of Hope's mission to provide emergency financial assistance to single mothers in need.

Along with the 10 women of Hope Angie Davis, Lamuriel Adams, Carla Brown, Patsy Bryan, Wanda Callahan, Jean Hawkins, Laurel Kovach, Jacki Payne, Fran Sutton and Penny Warren, special guests Rona Roberts, Leah Anderson, Lucy Adams, Trecee Williams, Pat Dooley, Marilyn Lowe, Susan Faulkner and Sue Lake and Liz Warren attended, along with Barbara Callahan, Melissa Worley Callahan, Jeanette Worley Casey, Sharon Herndon, Carolyn Palmer, Lisa Ogburn, Ann Burnett, Betty Sheldon, Shirley Bryant, Nancy Sutton, Leslie Thomas, Pamela Locke, Isabell Rosier, and Karen Wine.

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Carolyn Hardwick, the daughter of Ellen Barnes, hosted a Mother Daughter Brunch on May 8 at her newly renovated Marietta home. Photographer Christy Parry photographed mothers and daughters, including Patricia George and Elizabeth George, Joanna Conyngham and Carson Conyngham Wernz, Judy Stegall, Kristen Kyburz Brock and Kelley Kyburz Mitchell, and Linda Milligan, Allison Milligan Gruehn and Catherine Milligan Sanders.

Sally Litchfield is a longtime Marietta resident. She formerly practiced law in Marietta and now stays home to raise her two children. Send Sally news at sallylit @bellsouth.net. Call Sally at (770) 425-7122.