Several local Girls Scouts will be taking a week-long trip to Washington, D.C. after intensive hard work. The girls fundraised for two years in order to fund the trip, and their efforts are now paying off. P-J photo by Katrina Fuller

After two years of hard work, several local Girl Scouts will embark on a long-awaited adventure.

After a lot of fundraising efforts and elbow grease, 28 Girl Scouts from the area will travel to Washington, D.C., for a weeklong excursion in which they will visit several museums, memorials and a variety of other attractions.

Overall, 44 people, including the scouts, will attend the trip, said Tabatha Smith, parent volunteer. The girls are all from troops 20117-Falconer, 20075-Falconer and 20029-Jamestown, and raised funds through pancake dinners, bottle and can drives, raffles and more.

The girls also held car washes, a Pinewood Derby, a Mall Dash Scavenger Hunt and a variety of other activities.

“We’d like to send a big thank you for the support from family, friends and the community for helping the girls reach their goals,” Smith said. “Over the last two years, we have run numerous fundraisers, the largest being the ‘flocking’ of flamingos in yards last summer and fall.”

Every minute of the trip is booked up with a variety of activities, Smith said. She said the girls worked hard to offset the cost of the trip through fundraising, and earned the experience each step of the way.

The Girl Scouts of America was formed in Savannah, Ga. in March 1912 by Juliette Gordon Low. Currently, there are about three million Girl Scouts in 92 countries, as well as more than 59 million alumnae, according to girlscouts.org.

For more information on local Girl Scouts programming and more, visit www.gswny.org or call 935-6040.