The planned grand opening of a Seed Bank at C.H. Booth Library on May 5 will also be an unveiling for Newtown High School sophomore Sabrina Boccuzzi's Girl Scout Gold Award project.

Sabrina said she first approached the library about completing her Gold Award project there in June 2017. Former Young Adult Librarian Kim Weber, who has since retired, shared the idea of creating a seed bank with Sabrina.

Overall, Sabrina said working to create the Seed Bank has been "an amazing experience."

"I really wanted to do something in the community," said Sabrina on April 25.

The Seed Bank, according to Sabrina, will allow people to sign out seeds to use. After being planted, people will be asked to collect seeds from the plants to return to the library. Directions on how to collect the seeds will be available with the seeds when they are taken out from the Seed Bank.

The grand opening of the Seed Bank is set for Saturday, May 5, at 10 am, at the library, 25 Main Street, in its cafe area. Sabrina said the library plans to offer snacks during the event. About 30 different types of seeds were collected from donations for the Seed Bank. Newtown Hardware, Select Seeds, and Hollandia Nurseries all donated seeds for the collection.

"They are all natural," said Sabrina, about the seeds.

"From experience, I know that we waste a lot of seeds every year, or you don't need all of those seeds," Sabrina explained in an e-mail. "My Gold Award Seed Bank at the library in town will allow people to sign out seeds they want for their garden, and then, marking the date they were collected, they will bring the seeds from those plants back to the library for those who want to sign them out and plant them. This exchange will continue and create an heirloom non-GMO [genetically modified organism] Seed Bank at our library for the town's convenience. The library will take over the project when I am finished; this is part of the sustainability and long-term piece of the Gold Award."

To complete her Gold Award, Sabrina had to complete a minimum of 80 hours of work on the project, and the project had to focus on an issue within the community. She mentored with Susan Skerrett of the Darien Library and her Girl Scout advisor was Elizabeth Roth of Cheshire.

The Seed Bank itself was created out of an old library card catalog. Sabrina used wood, stain, and varnish to fix it up for her purpose.

"I'm really happy with how it turned out, and I hope it will get it full use out of it," said Sabrina about the Seed Bank.

C.H. Booth Library Assistant Director Beryl Harrison, who has been working with Sabrina to coordinate the project with the library, said she encourages everyone to attend the grand opening on May 5 to learn about the Seed Bank.

[naviga:img class="aligncenter wp-image-317002" src="https://newtownbee.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Girl-Scout-Gold-Award.jpg" alt="Girl Scout Gold Award" width="250" height="232" /]