# Ideas Needed for Gold Award



## Julie (Feb 8, 2007)

I am hoping that you can help us. 

Last night Lacy and I both received our 10 year pins and Lacy just bridged into "ambassador" level in Girl Scouts. The highest honor you can achieve in girl scouting is earning your gold award. Lacy has till next June or so to earn it. Basically,there are many many requirements and it is not easy to earn. She is required to do many leadership things,take on leadership roles,volunteer etc. but at the end of it is her big community service project. This requires her using a certain number of hours from planning and doing(I believe it is 65 hours). The restrictions are it must benefit the community as a whole,not just a small focus type group,such as only girl scouts--more "community". Anyway,Lacy has her heart set on doing something with animals. We don't have an animal shelter,but rather it is in a community south of us,so we can't do that. Just raising money for it,doesn't work. We have talked about creating a dog park,but for some reason and red tape,our town isn't "excited" about that idea. If we tried to push this idea,and it wasn't accepted or complete Lacy would NOT get her gold award. So----do you guys have any other ideas? It needs to be kind of a "big undertaking" but something that is actually achievable in her time frame.

The only thing that popped into my head tonight at work was creating a Read with Rover chapter or group here in our community. Do you know how long it takes to certify a dog? Do you think it would be difficult to find teams to help? At this point,I think Vinnie would be closest to certify over Quincy. 

Please--any input or ideas is appreciated! I want to help Lacy to achieve this.....she has earned all 57 "try its" as a brownie in 2 yrs.,all Junior badges old and new (numbering I forget for certain,but something like 117),earned her bronze award as a Junior,earned her silver award as Cadette,leadership pin,etc.

Thanks:grouphug:

Now let the ideas flow! :bounce::ear::bounce::ear::bounce::ear:


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## RikiDaisyDixie (Apr 15, 2008)

*congrats on getting to this level!*

Alana just got her bronze award pin this weekend. She did an ecological art and photo show after photographing the beach after a big rain storm. She made art out of the trash, and made very artsy photos, inviting the public to an installation to educate them on plastic and beach cleanliness.

She wants to do something for havanese rescue for the silver...but she cannot raise funds. So she has to come up with something herself.

What is your daughter most passionate about? What excites her? This is usually the best way to begin brainstorming...


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## Julie (Feb 8, 2007)

Animals----animals and well to be honest-----books! That girl has been a book worm ever since she was a baby. As wierd as it was--both of my older two both slept with books in their cribs....when they were old enough to choose,they picked books instead of stuffed animals. Lacy was the top reader in our state 2 years, and has been in the top 3% always. In 4th or 5th grade she was already reading at a college level. 

ound: Most parents have to encourage their kids to read---I had to MAKE her get her nose out of a book for other things in life! ound:


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## JASHavanese (Apr 24, 2007)

I don't remember doing things like that in the Girl Scouts but it sure sounds great for kids! Good luck!


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## HavaBaloo (Mar 24, 2009)

I am not sure but a group here in my community did a cool thing a few years ago. They implemented a *brighten your community event*, where you go around to the community parks and playgrounds and clean up any garbage, maybe paint benches, plant a few flowers?

This might not be something she is interested in, but when they did it I thought it was so great. They painted the benches bright colours and even painted some of the swing sets that were getting old and rusty. Really looked great!

Good luck and congratulations to you and Lacy. Sounds like you have quite a special young lady.


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

Could she collect food and pet supplies to be donated to a shelter? And then write her own book about it? With all the sites that do books now she could take photos and put together her book with text. Maybe even follow a dog or cat from rescue, through fostering, and then on to it's forever home in the book?


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## ama0722 (Nov 28, 2006)

Julie- That is a great idea  While I don't know how to set up your own chapter, you can certify your dog in about 10 mins. The biggest therapy dog programs are tdi and delta. Delta is a bit more strict in my opinion but often visit hospitals so can require more- the chapter we got involved with required your dog be fully bathed before every visit (a bit much when you when you do 2 visits a week). You may want to find the nearest therapy dog to you and find out how they set up their program. The one I am with right now is thru TDI however, they have other specific test that dogs must pass before going to a program. One is a local camp for autistic childen so they want your dog to go through special testing before you visit there which is makes great sense.

http://www.tdi-dog.org/OurPrograms.aspx?Page=Children+Reading+to+Dogs

Another thing I know a girl scout did back outside of Columbus is rallied the community and opened up their own dog park. I really appreciated her


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## mintchip (Apr 19, 2007)

Julie said:


> *Animals----animals and well to be honest-----books! *That girl has been a book worm ever since she was a baby. As wierd as it was--both of my older two both slept with books in their cribs....when they were old enough to choose,they picked books instead of stuffed animals. Lacy was the top reader in our state 2 years, and has been in the top 3% always. In 4th or 5th grade she was already reading at a college level.
> 
> ound: Most parents have to encourage their kids to read---I had to MAKE her get her nose out of a book for other things in life! ound:


You are great with a camera maybe the 2 of you could work on a children's book showing how to "behave" around animals or maybe how you train dogs
Anne I love your fostering and forever home idea


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## ama0722 (Nov 28, 2006)

Julie- Another idea, I thought of at the dentist. Not sure if your county shelter has it already but they do a foster program with the dogs to help rehabilitate them and get them adopted. Think something like HRI but locally.


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## Julie (Feb 8, 2007)

HavaBaloo said:


> I am not sure but a group here in my community did a cool thing a few years ago. They implemented a *brighten your community event*, where you go around to the community parks and playgrounds and clean up any garbage, maybe paint benches, plant a few flowers?
> 
> This might not be something she is interested in, but when they did it I thought it was so great. They painted the benches bright colours and even painted some of the swing sets that were getting old and rusty. Really looked great!
> 
> Good luck and congratulations to you and Lacy. Sounds like you have quite a special young lady.


This is a great idea/project. Our girl scouts in this community and boy scouts as well-actually do this type of stuff,and actually some school projects I've been involved with did too. I build birdhouses,bat houses,butterfly houses etc. with second graders for a few years. It was great fun and we planted flowers etc. Unfortunately this project requires more intense planning for her to meet her requirements. I certainly love it though!:thumb:


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## Julie (Feb 8, 2007)

Scooter's Family said:


> Could she collect food and pet supplies to be donated to a shelter? And then write her own book about it? With all the sites that do books now she could take photos and put together her book with text. Maybe even follow a dog or cat from rescue, through fostering, and then on to it's forever home in the book?


I love the book idea. Lacy wants to be a writer someday,so we may entertain this idea some more.

We have collected food and toys and made toys,home made treats,and made adoption "bundles" for the animal shelter just south of us. We did this as part of a lock in one year. When the girls took all their donated items,the people were not very----well-------let's say "appreciative" and it was so sad. The girls stayed up half the night baking peanut butter biscuits that had a long shelf life especially for them...the adoption bundles included braided chew toys we made,purchased toys and a bandanna. You know what the people did? They said about the treats--oh,thank you. All the rest of the stuff? They said you can just set that down anywhere. Nothing else! Can you believe it? What a bunch of butts----

Our town doesn't have a shelter.


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## Julie (Feb 8, 2007)

ama0722 said:


> Julie- That is a great idea  While I don't know how to set up your own chapter, you can certify your dog in about 10 mins. The biggest therapy dog programs are tdi and delta. Delta is a bit more strict in my opinion but often visit hospitals so can require more- the chapter we got involved with required your dog be fully bathed before every visit (a bit much when you when you do 2 visits a week). You may want to find the nearest therapy dog to you and find out how they set up their program. The one I am with right now is thru TDI however, they have other specific test that dogs must pass before going to a program. One is a local camp for autistic childen so they want your dog to go through special testing before you visit there which is makes great sense.
> 
> http://www.tdi-dog.org/OurPrograms.aspx?Page=Children+Reading+to+Dogs
> 
> Another thing I know a girl scout did back outside of Columbus is rallied the community and opened up their own dog park. I really appreciated her


I really would love to see the dog park myself. When I asked about it(it was brought up a few years ago) it must of been poo-pood because nothing ever came of it. When questioning about it last night at work,I got the negative stuff associated with it. Dog aggression,dog fights,fleas,coming in contact with other dogs that are not up to date on shots etc. Can it really be that bad? I figure there are some liability issues,but if you enter at your risk,doesn't that let a city/county "off the hook?" legally?

Do you have concerns when you go to a dog park?:ear:


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## ama0722 (Nov 28, 2006)

Julie- It took me a bit to think of the location- it is a tiny little area outside of Columbus. Here is a slight write up but maybe you two could find more info and find out how they got around it. Maybe you could even get in contact with the girl who started it. I think they used land at a park- cause I remember driving and walking past I want to say soccer fields. But this area is actually a really small town so when my friend told me about the new park a few years ago, I was shocked they had one but it was very nice. I think it was all size dogs or we just went into the big area cause there were no small dogs but my girls did fine with the big dogs there.
http://www.granvilleohioonline.com/info/pets/pet-dog-parks.html

The concerns, I have about dog parks is the people there. I usually pay more attention to them than the dogs. I hate when people don't follow rules such as taking the dog's leash off. My dogs have been to many dog parts and there have probably been one or two times where I didn't like it and left. One time was my own dog! Isabelle wouldn't quit trying to pick on a 3 legged dog. I know it sounds kind of funny and Belle was way smaller than the dog but seriously, I couldn't get Belle to stop picking on him and sometimes if something isn't right with an animal, all of them will gang up and I wanted to avoid that situation.

The dog parks, I personally liked the best- were in a city area. Meaning lots of locals who protected the area, would make sure people cleaned up, etc. The park was split into 3 parks. One for big dogs, one for small, and one to rotate- if there was flooding, grass needed to be grown, etc. I personally have never seen anything major happen at a dog park but I am sure sometimes it does but in my own experiences dogs behave better without leashes and after they are exercised. Having a dog park helps them get exercise and socialize.


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## Laurief (Nov 7, 2006)

Julie, yes yes yes, and yes - there is a huge liability situation for a town with a dog park. Sadly people dont take responsibility for their own dogs or their actions and all it takes is one child to be bitten by one dog at the dog park, one lawyer who decides it is worth 2 million and the park is gone!

I love the book idea! I would be thrilled to help Lacy with anything to do with a foster from start to finish!! Is it possible to do the book, and do the reading program too?? Gosh - she and Vinnie could read to elderly, pre-schoolers etc. 
Would it be possible for her to find out ahead of time, and work with Robbie's teacher for next year, involve the kids, let them help write the book, give ideas, read with her??


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## Thumper (Feb 18, 2007)

Julie,

I am SO proud of Lacy! That is such a HUUUGEE accomplishment, as a former Girl Scout and the mother of soon to be TWO Eagle scouts, I do get the drift on these big projects.

Let's see. Jake..for his Eagle scout project, he built storage racks at the Skate park. lol, he wanted to do it, he built these benches and coat racks and then places to store your stuff (like lil' lockers sorta) I'd say it benefited his peer community, but it passed as the Eagle scout project.

I know a lot of his friends, well, they do similar undertakings, building benches at parks, etc.

Since she wants to do something dog related, but is restricted on the park idea (the city probably just doesn't want to deal with the maintenance, parvo, etc.)Dog parks are ongoing work..

What about a pathway? Like a walk or jogging trail? Is something like that doable in your area?

Or...perhaps start some type of charity to help with vaccination costs, spay/neuter, etc. I know some people just can't afford that stuff right now and seems like it would be a great thing for any community, if one doesn't exist already.

I dunnoo...But I'm sure you two will come up with something phenomenal. 

Kara


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## kelrobin (Jan 21, 2008)

Hi Julie . . . what a great accomplishment this will be for your daughter! I remember going through the project ideas with my sons who are Eagle Scouts, and these are the things I remember (girls' requirements may be a little different):

The project had to be one that was totally led by the child while in a supervisory position over other scouts. The only time an adult could be involved was in operating dangerous equipment, etc. Of course there is a lot of gray area there, and all parents are usually involved somehow. This might limit the Read to Rover program only because of all the training with the dogs, scheduling with the schools, etc. If you have time to get one of your dogs trained, and she could introduce the program and the training involved to the schools, that might work. Does she have to involve part of her troop or other volunteers? That is the tricky part.

It does have to benefit the overall community somehow which limits some projects. I remember one boy had his project rejected because he wanted to rebuild some sports fields for our local orphanage, and they said it was too limiting. My boys both did landscaping projects . . . one redid the front of the public library with funds from our local garden council, and the other redid the paths and markers for the second oldest graveyard in our county (1700's!) with help from the historic park that maintains it. He wanted to work at the oldest one first where our ancestors are buried, but it is private, so that ruled that out. Both projects provided a lot of manpower so it was great for getting all the kids involved.

If your daughter likes to read, your local library might have some needs. Anytime a young person can produce a printed piece (or book) that is informative, that is good too. I like the book idea, but I bet they will want her to do more than just that. Do you have strict dog/leash laws that she could do a booklet on? Perhaps how to care for a new puppy, vaccines, spay/neuter? How about a Humane Society? Do you think your town might be interested in a shelter? Perhaps she could get interest from the city in starting one unless your town is too small. There are so many possibilites . . . I'll keep thinking. Your daughter will probably come up with something incredible.


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## ivyagogo (Sep 11, 2007)

Julie -

Do you have an elder care or department for the aging office in your area? You might contact them and find out who has dogs and/or cats. Perhaps your daughter can visit those people in their homes and spend time with them and their pets and write about it?


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## Julie (Feb 8, 2007)

I love your ideas and input! Keep them coming!!!:bounce::bounce::bounce:


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## SMARTY (Apr 19, 2007)

Congratulation, to you and Lacy, this is a wonderful accomplish.

A few ideas…..

1…If the shelter in the other community does not have a web site your daughter could work on that, do the pictures of the animals and a write up. She could work on a master email list, newspaper articles and posters to get attention to the site.

2…Our local feed store has a vaccination clinic every year. Very reasonable prices. The local vets donate the vaccines and their time. It brings in many animals that normally would not get their shots. The animals also get a short examine by the vet to alert owners to other possible problems. This project would require quite a bit of organization in locations, donations of supplies, volunteers and advertising. 

3…My daughter took on 2 feral cat colonies, one in Tampa and one in Fresno. They were both behind local fast foods. She would capture, have spayed or neutered, clip the ear ( so the same cat is not brought in) and return to the colony. There were local vets willing to do the operations for free. She received much gratification, although it was continuous for almost a year in both colonies. It you are not looking for these colonies you do not realize they are there. The life span of most feral cats is less than 2 years, but each female can reproduce 4 to 5 times, producing 20 or more kittens in this space of time. Some of the cats she captured were beautiful domestic cats that had joined the colony, a few were place but most were returned to live out their lives.
My DD did not feed the colony as she did not want them to become dependant, she only had food in the crates for capture

Good luck, keep us posted.


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## Julie (Feb 8, 2007)

Laurief said:


> Julie, yes yes yes, and yes - there is a huge liability situation for a town with a dog park. Sadly people dont take responsibility for their own dogs or their actions and all it takes is one child to be bitten by one dog at the dog park, one lawyer who decides it is worth 2 million and the park is gone!
> 
> I love the book idea! I would be thrilled to help Lacy with anything to do with a foster from start to finish!! Is it possible to do the book, and do the reading program too?? Gosh - she and Vinnie could read to elderly, pre-schoolers etc.
> Would it be possible for her to find out ahead of time, and work with Robbie's teacher for next year, involve the kids, let them help write the book, give ideas, read with her??


The liability and the sense I get from the vet considering the negative aspects definitely would make this dog park idea a hard sell in our town. I actually think we could benefit from one myself,and would love to see one here,but I think we will have to move on from the dog park idea.  I would love to be able to take my own guys to an off leash area where they would be safe and run free,but I do have to admit,I would be a bit nervous about something happening to Quincy in particular. Lately he has been a little grumpy about other kids petting him and always has a bark for another dog. I guess I haven't did my job with him.

I talked with Robbie's teacher yesterday and she was "all about" getting a program like Reading with Rover going here in our community. This sounds very exciting to all of us. I'm not exactly sure how we would go about creating our own chapter of an existing program,but I do think we will lean in that direction. If Lacy could write a book about fostering and taking care of pets or something like that,she could actually read it to the class of kids,as well as take Vinnie in for the therapy. The are some "issues" as all dogs would have to be certified,and it looks like the Delta Society or the testers are no where close to me from what I can find. I think Vinnie would be my easiest guy. He is very very loving and my true love bucket....actually the best behaved. It breaks my heart to actually post that about Quincy...as he should be a "natural" but I think he would require the most training and I'm not sure we have the time. He loves everyone--and is very loving to his own family(even Robbie) but put 2 little girls all excited and gushing over him and both wanting to pet and cuddle him and he growled!:hurt: I just couldn't believe it! :faint:


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## Julie (Feb 8, 2007)

Thumperlove said:


> Julie,
> 
> I am SO proud of Lacy! That is such a HUUUGEE accomplishment, as a former Girl Scout and the mother of soon to be TWO Eagle scouts, I do get the drift on these big projects.
> 
> ...


Thank you Kara:hug:
We do have extensive trails and walk path in our area. It is nice. Alot of people take their dogs loose on these,because we have no dog park! It can be scary,to be honest.

Congrats on the 2 Eagle Scouts! :clap2: That is a wonderful accomplishment and something to be very proud of!

I will definitely keep the vaccination idea that you and Sandi mentioned as that is a great idea too. I have a bit of an inside track to at least 1 vet!


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

Julie-The plan you mention sounds wonderful! She must be a very special girl, you're a lucky Mom!


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## Julie (Feb 8, 2007)

kelrobin said:


> The project had to be one that was totally led by the child while in a supervisory position over other scouts. The only time an adult could be involved was in operating dangerous equipment, etc. Of course there is a lot of gray area there, and all parents are usually involved somehow. This might limit the Read to Rover program only because of all the training with the dogs, scheduling with the schools, etc. If you have time to get one of your dogs trained, and she could introduce the program and the training involved to the schools, that might work. Does she have to involve part of her troop or other volunteers? That is the tricky part.
> 
> It does have to benefit the overall community somehow which limits some projects. I remember one boy had his project rejected because he wanted to rebuild some sports fields for our local orphanage, and they said it was too limiting. My boys both did landscaping projects . . . one redid the front of the public library with funds from our local garden council, and the other redid the paths and markers for the second oldest graveyard in our county (1700's!) with help from the historic park that maintains it. He wanted to work at the oldest one first where our ancestors are buried, but it is private, so that ruled that out. Both projects provided a lot of manpower so it was great for getting all the kids involved.
> 
> If your daughter likes to read, your local library might have some needs. Anytime a young person can produce a printed piece (or book) that is informative, that is good too. I like the book idea, but I bet they will want her to do more than just that. Do you have strict dog/leash laws that she could do a booklet on? Perhaps how to care for a new puppy, vaccines, spay/neuter? How about a Humane Society? Do you think your town might be interested in a shelter? Perhaps she could get interest from the city in starting one unless your town is too small. There are so many possibilites . . . I'll keep thinking. Your daughter will probably come up with something incredible.


Thank you for you insight/ideas Kathy.

Lacy can involve others to help her with no restrictions,per say,but she has to take the leadership role,do all the planning,organizing,research if necessary etc. It is alot of work to accomplish all the things just leading up to the actual project. The project itself requires a minimum of 65 hours. Lacy is good in leadership roles and a fabulous volunteer. My goodness---she volunteered over 120 hours to work with younger girl scouts one year,actually running a troop. She is pretty amazing...she really is.

Our community is not interested in a humane society / animal shelter as there is one 18 miles away. All of our strays are taken to a vet(there are 2 here) and are housed while ads go out for lost dog etc. Then if no one comes forward,the dog is taken 18 miles away to the animal shelter. I don't think there are many here to be honest. Maybe 1 or 2 in a year?

I think I'm going to run the book idea past Lace to see what she thinks. That could be so cool!:thumb:


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## Julie (Feb 8, 2007)

ivyagogo said:


> Julie -
> 
> Do you have an elder care or department for the aging office in your area? You might contact them and find out who has dogs and/or cats. Perhaps your daughter can visit those people in their homes and spend time with them and their pets and write about it?


Good idea too for a book Ivy.:thumb:

Gosh I love how you guys think!:whoo:


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## Julie (Feb 8, 2007)

Scooter's Family said:


> Julie-The plan you mention sounds wonderful! She must be a very special girl, you're a lucky Mom!


She is--but trust me--she has that "other" side too!ound:

:flame::bolt::rant::doh::flame::bolt::doh::rant:


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## ama0722 (Nov 28, 2006)

Julie- Last night I did a therapy dog visit that I really thought makes a hugedifference and not sure if Lacy could do something in this area but if she is still thinking therapy dog and setting up a visit, etc. This one we went to wa a battered women and children's shelter. You could really see how happy the women and the children were that the dogs came to visit and how it let them truly escape for awhile. Isabelle was exhausted by the time we left- children in this capacity are a lot of work and with her hair and bows, it was Belle fashion show, walking Belle on leash, etc. non stop but I got teary eyed when I left and that will definitely be one of my regular visits.


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## Thumper (Feb 18, 2007)

Julie said:


> She is--but trust me--she has that "other" side too!ound:
> 
> :


LOL ound:

Ohhhh.......the joys of *teenagers* harhar..

Especially puberty, egads. that's the worst!

But, BTT, There are some wonderful Ideas here  I do think it is so super cool that she want to do something dog related, too.

I still have my thinking cap on, I'll ask Jake for some ideas, too. I know he's heard of lots of them lately since the boys are also helping the others get their Eagle scout too


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## mintchip (Apr 19, 2007)

ama0722 said:


> Julie- Last night I did a therapy dog visit that I really thought makes a hugedifference and not sure if Lacy could do something in this area but if she is still thinking therapy dog and setting up a visit, etc. This one we went to wa a battered women and children's shelter. You could really see how happy the women and the children were that the dogs came to visit and how it let them truly escape for awhile. Isabelle was exhausted by the time we left- children in this capacity are a lot of work and with her hair and bows, it was Belle fashion show, walking Belle on leash, etc. non stop but I got teary eyed when I left and that will definitely be one of my regular visits.


Amanda that is wonderful! A friend took/escaped with her kids to one recently and they couldn't take their dog with them


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