When most people think of Girl Scouts, they think of Thin Mints and Tagalongs.

Isabel Price, a Juliette Girl Scout and a junior at Lamar School, knows that the organization represents so much more.

Price has been working toward her Gold Award since January.

To achieve her goal, she’s volunteered for an organization known as Crocheting for a Cause. Price will devote 80 hours to the project that she said has become her passion and a unique and creative way to provide comfort for those individuals suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

Crocheting for a Cause distributes crochet “fidget sleeves” to facilities such as nursing homes and directly to individuals who are affected by Alzheimer’s.

Price says her mother, Dr. Deanna Price, taught her to crochet, and thus began the idea for the project. Dr. Price taught herself to crochet by watching tutorials on YouTube and getting pointers from her church’s prayer shawl ministry group.

“I was familiar with the Crocheting for a Cause organization and their work providing fidget sleeves to elderly and dementia patients,” Dr. Price said.

Her daughter embraced the cause.

“When I started my project, I had no clue this would become something I was intensely passionate about,” Isabel Price said. “So far, I have donated over 50 sleeves.”

It takes Price a little more than an hour to make the base of each sleeve and then an additional 20 minutes to attach decorations, such as beads, braids, knots, or buttons.

“These added decorations give the sleeves their name; they give the recipient something to fiddle with,” Price said.

Price works with local volunteers, church crochet groups, and individuals in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana to make the sleeves.

To help

To help with the project, email volunteering2help@gmail.com.

To see Price’s videos on how to make the sleeves on You Tube:

First video: https://youtu.be/drexaDtIYyU

Second video: https://youtu.be/RiSpMiD3DQ8

More information can be found on the Crocheting for a Cause Facebook page.

“These volunteers may never realize the impact their work has on the recipients, but when I distribute these sleeves, I get to see the glowing smiles of each person,” Price said. “I wish I could share these heartfelt moments with everyone who has helped me.”

In addition to her mother, Price credits her project advisor, Dr. Katherine Pannel of Oxford, and Matilda Stephens, program manager for Girl Scouts of Greater Mississippi. Price appreciates their support especially during this time of COVID-19.

“I am still collecting and distributing sleeves while taking new precautions,” Price said. “Before COVID-19, I was planning on holding a few in-person crochet workshops. Now, with new rules and regulations, I have moved the workshops online to my YouTube channel.”

Price welcomes anyone interested in volunteering to help crochet the sleeves, and she is also searching for more people and places to share her craft.