Girl Scout Honors Local Veterans with Special Luncheon

As part of her Girl Scout Gold Award project, Cristina Madalo, a junior at Murrieta Valley High School, held an honorary luncheon for senior veterans and their families this past Wednesday, Nov. 13 at the Murrieta Senior Center. 

As president of the Senior Pals Club, it has become her passion to create more interaction between local teenagers and senior citizens of our community. It was with this objective that she came up with the idea to host a special event that would bring these two generations together. 

“My long term goal is to host a luncheon every year, to honor our veterans as well as to encourage more interaction between teens and our senior citizens which would be both educational, entertaining and create caring and compassion," Cristina said.

This year’s event included a wonderful lunch of lasagna, caesar salad, rolls and a beautiful cake created in our veterans’ honor. There was a quick power point presentation as well as hand-made gifts for each veteran and their family members.

“We were extremely pleased with the turn-out this year, having more than 50 people at the event, but are hoping to make it even bigger next year! My goal is to have even more veterans show up as well as many more teenagers not only from the Senior Pals Club but also from JROTC and the Murrieta Valley Chorale Ensemble," Cristina said.

One of the students helping at the event, Loni Byers, stated: “It was wonderful meeting and serving these veterans who have in turn served us! They were so grateful to be recognized by us and eager to share their stories!”

Fundraising for this event came in the form of donations: Girl Scout cookie/fall product sales as well as Cristina’s own personal money which she has earned refereeing soccer.

The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award achieved in Girl Scouting and is equivalent to the Eagle Scout Award in Boy Scouting. Cristina has been involved in scouting for more than 11 years and loves the community service opportunities it presents.

Cristina Madalo is a scholar athlete with a 4.3 GPA. She is a member of the National Honor Society and the California Scholarship Federation. She has lettered in cross country as well as track & field, plays varsity soccer, and is serving her third year in ASB/Leadership.

—Contributed content