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Community June 26, 2009  RSS feed

Time Capsule Found

by Elizabeth Malaszczyk (Girl Scout Junior Troop #1371) (age 11&1/2)

Garden City Village Hall Construction Site, where Time Capsule was found in April 2009
Garden City Village Hall Construction Site, where Time Capsule was found in April 2009 In 1981, a time capsule was buried by Girl Scout Brownie Troop 1356 at Garden City Village Hall. It was supposed to be dug up 5 years later but no one ever did it!! Twenty eight years into the future..........TIME CAPSULE FOUND!!!!!!!!! There is construction being done at the Village Hall and the workers found it. This was all started by my grandmother, Helen Barletta, who was the Troop Leader in 1981. Her troop put mailboxes all over town to inspire anyone who wanted to participate in the project. Tons of letters were written by the Brownies in the troop and by people all over town. The Brownie troop then collected the letters and buried them in a time capsule at Village Hall.

The object of these letters was to write to themselves to compare 1981 to the present year. Postage was to be added by the Girl Scouts of Nassau County and the letters were to be sent out 5 years later. Instead, they were just found this year!! My grandmother and I got to open the time capsule with other Girl Scout leaders. That was very exciting!!! Then at the 1st Annual Garden City Girl Scouts Award Ceremony, I got to read 2 of the letters to the audience. One was my Aunt Alice's letter. She was a Brownie in that troop and was only 9 years old at the time. The other letter was my grandmother's. My grandmother's letter had some historical facts in it such as the fact that Pope John Paul II had just been shot and so had President Reagan a few weeks before that. She was concerned about our country and she hoped that President Reagan would help and that things would be much better in 5 years!! Everyone thought that was very interesting.

Original Newspaper Clipping written 2 weeks before Capsule was buried, found in Time Capsule:
Original Newspaper Clipping written 2 weeks before Capsule was buried, found in Time Capsule: After all these years, the Girl Scout Council is going to keep the promise of adding postage and sending those letters out. So, look out Garden City residents!!! There may be a letter that you wrote to yourself coming your way very soon!!! If you think you may have written a letter in this project, you can contact Kerry Couture, Chair of Association Volunteers for the Garden City Association of Girl Scouts at 516-238-7377.

Original Flyer inviting the community to participate in the project, found in Time Capsule
Original Flyer inviting the community to participate in the project, found in Time Capsule

1981 Time Capsule:
1981 Time Capsule: Elizabeth & Helen opening Time Capsule in May 2009
Elizabeth & Helen opening Time Capsule in May 2009 Members of Garden City Girl Scouts Service Team join Elizabeth & Helen in going through letters found in the Time Capsule:
Members of Garden City Girl Scouts Service Team join Elizabeth & Helen in going through letters found in the Time Capsule: