Helen Liulevicius helped restore a children’s play space after Catholic Charities of East Tennessee’s building was destroyed by arson.
She partnered with the organization to design and build developmentally appropriate play centers, so that while parents meet with counselors, children have toys to help them improve fine motor skills.
Liulevicius also established low-cost, easy-to-make toy designs for parents to take home, along with information on the types of play essential for early childhood development. She earned a prestigious Girl Scout Gold Award in 2024 for her A Child’s Play Haven project.
Gold Award Girl Scouts are rock stars, role models and real-life heroes who address issues they’re passionate about by using everything they’ve learned as a Girl Scout to solve an issue. They plan and implement projects that produce lasting change in the community and beyond. It is the Girl Scouts’ highest honor.
Helen learned of the need for new toys to entertain children who accompany their parents to classes and guidance sessions at Catholic Charities of East Tennessee and set to work to find a solution. She made a project plan, which included storage for the new area. Wanting a durable place to store toys, she enlisted the help of her grandfather.
“My favorite part of the project was building, sanding and staining wooden cubicles with my grandfather,” she shares.
To prepare to stock the play areas, Helen did research to learn about the stages of educational development of children 6 months to 5 years old and the best toys for fostering motor skills, counting skills and creativity. She faced and overcame some challenges, including the biggest of finding high-quality, non-toxic educational toys made in the USA at an affordable price.
Overall, she credits the entire project to be an invaluable experience, sharing, “I had to organize my ideas, submit paperwork, make a budget and a schedule, format a plan of action, ask businesses for donations, make an informational brochure for the clients at Catholic Charities about toys and intellectual development and sit for interviews with local Girl Scout leaders,” which helped her build skills in so many areas.
Now a senior at Knoxville Catholic High School, Helen looks back on her years with Girl Scouts with fond memories, including participating in games, archery, skits, singing, cooking and making s’mores while camping with her Girl Scout troop and leaders at Camp Tanasi.
In her free time, she loves ice skating, teaching youth Taekwondo classes at Eun’s Martial Arts Center, reading, traveling and spending time with family and friends. After she graduates, she plans to attend college.
Congratulations, Helen! Visit girlscoutcsa.org to learn more.
Gretchen Crawley is chief communications officer for Girl Scouts of Southern Appalachians.
