Kids & Family

Girl Scout Earns Gold by Helping Terminally Ill Children

Maria Santora, a 2013 Hanover Park High grad, earned a Girl Scouting gold medal for renovating the sun room of a children's hospice.

Maria Santora proved she's a Girl Scout in the highest sense of the term. 

Santora, a freshman at Emerson College, recently earned a Gold Award, Girl Scout's highest award, when she refinished and reconstructed a sun porch at a hospice that caters to terminally ill children.

Santora spent more than 80 hours refurbishing the sunroom at Magnolia House for the Circle of Life Children’s Center, a hospice which provides palliative and end-of-life care to children with life-limiting illnesses.

"I chose this project because I felt that all children and infants coping with terminal illness should have an opportunity to enjoy the amount of time they have left.” Santora said in a statement. “This gives the kids the opportunity to forget what they are going through and just have fun.”

A 2013 Hanover Park High School graduate, Santora has been a Girl Scout since kindergarten and is a member of Troop No. 1942.

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