Meet Crystal Ursua
Crystal Ursua started her Socks of Love project in 2013, and she didn't have a Service Unit team. For a while, her Service Unit team was two volunteers, herself and Margie Olivarez. Today, Socks of Love is a major holiday project for Service Unit 617, better known as the De Colores Service Unit.
When a group of Girl Scouts come together to start a project to give back to their community, you know it will be a success. Socks of Love started to provide socks for the homeless of Lubbock. As they created and planned, they realized travel sized toiletries are also a need. Now, every year on December 21 (the longest night of the year and first day of winter), the Girl Scout Service Unit comes together to hand out socks with travel size toiletries at South Plains Homeless Consortium vigil event, around 300 packages each year. The vigil is a time for the community to come together in remembrance of those lost from homelessness in the Lubbock area.
Crystal joined Girl Scouts in January 2011, when her daughter joined Troop 6073 as a first-year Daisy. She wanted to be as involved as she could. Over the years, she kept volunteering with her daughter’s Troop and then moved into the Service Unit Manager role.
As a Girl Scout Volunteer, her favorite piece of advice for new volunteers is, “…be patient. There is always a lot to learn when you first start your Girl Scout journey as a parent or volunteer.” She also encourages volunteers and parents to get involved in their Service Unit, as it helps build Girl Scouts in your own area. Becoming a Girl Scout volunteer allows adults to enjoy the activities, trips, and more with Girl Scouts.
For Crystal, Girl Scouts has allowed her to take adventures with her troop from Seattle to Washington, D.C., to New York, and across the southwest. “I have the absolute best memories of all of our travels together over 13 years.”
To learn more about becoming a Girl Scout volunteer, visit your MyGS account or email customercare@gs-top.org.
December 18, 2024
