Weekly Roundup
June 11, 2026
Check out this week's roundup of the good things going on at GDG! We have a scholarship reflection, plus Benjamin Project stories this week that feature a Nebraska student donating hygiene products to a local organization, a staff lunch appreciation from students in Colorado, and birthday boxes for kids in Minnesota.
Lauren - Minnesota
We bought and put together birthday cakes, including: a soda can, cake mix, frosting, balloons, and candles. We give them out to people who aren't able to afford a birthday cake. We want everyone to be able to celebrate their birthdays!
Sawyer - Colorado
My group came together to think of a group project that would make staff feel recognized. We wanted to make lunch for this group, because we wanted to show our appreciation to them for making lunches for kids all year round. We decided to make a crock pot recipe where we can have fun doing so and make a positive impact. We made lunch for the lunch ladies over the course of two days and we learned many things while doing so. While working on this project, we felt good about what we were doing to help the lunch ladies, because we knew we were making lunch easier for them. We felt like we really made their day by giving them a lunch that they could eat with no effort involved for them. In the future what we would do to continue our involvement in this project would be us taking recognition of the people around us and doing what we can to help them.
Brooklyn - Nebraska
With our $100, my partner and I worked together to purchase hygiene products and donated them to Heartland Hope. When we dropped our products off, the worker at Heartland Hope thanked us and said that the most needed donation is hygiene products, as not every family gets the products they need to be sanitary.
Sage - Montana
To begin, I must thank you sincerely for helping me be able to afford this trip. It truly was a fantastic and unique experience. I don't travel much, and thus this trip was a particularly new experience for me that taught me a lot. The first several days of the trip were spent in Washington D.C., and for me the most significant events and sights there were the many monuments and memorials. In particular, I remember the Vietnam Memorial because of its unique design and the fact that my grandfather fought in Vietnam. My favorite thing from this part of the trip was by far all of the historical monuments though, specifically the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial, thanks to their cool design and background. As much as I enjoyed D.C., I liked New York even more. The massive buildings and crowded, noisy streets were so different from the usual quietness of Montana. There were also so many stores, apartments, restaurants, and so much more inside all those towering buildings. The best part of the entire trip by far was the diversity in people. In DC alone, I saw more races, religions, and countless other forms of self expression than I ever have in Montana. That alone made the trip worthwhile.
Again, I cannot say enough how thankful I am for you helping me be able to attend this trip. It really did teach me a lot, and not only about our country and its fascinating history, but also about our country as it exists today.