A local group of Girl Scouts recently worked to beautify their city while repaying an Alabaster church for years of kindness.

Members of Girl Scout Troop 180 in Alabaster raised more than $450 to renovate a flower bed at Westwood Baptist Church after the church donated the troop’s meeting space for several years.

“We meet two times a month at the church, and they have allowed us to use their facilities free of charge for several years,” said Paige Fell, one of the troop’s directors. “The girls wanted to pay the church back, and this is how they decided to do it.”

After raising the money necessary to complete the project, the troop worked to design the new flower bed before purchasing the necessary materials and completing the renovation themselves.

The girls removed the old plants in the flower bed and prepared the soil for the new plants before they planted yellow lantana, pink roses, yellow and red day lilies, juniper and monkey grass throughout the brick-lined flower bed.

Through the project, two of the girls earned their Silver Award badges, which is the second-highest award given by the Girl Scouts of America.

“They did all of the project themselves. They raised more than $450 on their own,” Fell said. “Everything ended up looking great.”