Girl Scouts Complete Bat Box Hotel For Lyna Berry Farms

Congratulations to Troop 33521 for completing and installing their Bat Box Hotel. This was the troop's Take Action Project for their Bronze Award. Troop 3521 often gravitates toward the outdoors and helping animals. They wanted to choose a project that would also help the environment.

The girls learned that due to deforestation, a growing population of bats are being evicted from their natural habitats, often roosting in local resident homes. In Florida, bats are protected year-round because they eat insects, which limits the spread of diseases and damage to crops. They are also avid pollinators. The girls decided to donate their Bat Box Hotel to Lyna Berry Farms, in Lithia. We hope the bats embrace this symbiotic arrangement, providing pest management and pollination for the farm, while receiving a safe place to raise their pups next summer.

Bronze Award projects are team projects. It is the 3rd highest award in Girl Scouts. Our Junior level girls learn to collaborate, explore their community, choose and plan their project, put their plan in motion and spread the word to educate and inspire others.

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Thank you to ALL who helped Troop 33521 learn and grow through this process this year.

Busch Gardens Biodiversity program and the Savannah Marine Science center taught Troop 3521 about animal habitats, ecology and instinctive vs learned behaviors and how human interference can often have a detrimental effect on the survival of animal species.

Hillsborough Soil and Water Conservation District led the troop to the idea of helping bats when the girls participated in the “Bees, Bats, Birds and Butterflies . . . Our Perfect Pollinators” contest. Troop 3521 won 2nd place and a cash prize that helped them fund this project. Troop 3521 was able to spread the word about Bats as pollinators at the HSWCD Watershed Booth, where they donated their winning water barrel to the live auction.

Thank you to Jen at Owl’s Nest Sanctuary for introducing the troop to Otis, an injured Evening Bat pup in their care. Jen demonstrated how to handle bats and how to safely contain them. They are currently holding their adopt a bat program where you can contribute a $30 donation to help with bat care.

Thank you Lowe's Home Improvement, who donated most of the bat house building materials. And thank you to Debbie Raises for making that connection to this resource for us!

Thank you to A&R Workshop for your support. They provided the girls with a lesson in Tool Safety and lead them through the Bat Box Hotel building process.

Thank you to Lyna Berry Farms for providing a home for The Bat Box Hotel and helping hang the troop’s Bat Box Hotel. We hope it serves your blueberry farm well!