History of the Patch Program

In 2023, Lily Sassani set out to earn her Gold Award, the highest honor in the Girl Scouts, which requires a Girl Scout to design and carry out an independent, sustainable project addressing a real-world issue. Lily focused her project on Holocaust education and, at the suggestion of the LIGHT Education Initiative, asked if the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh (HCP)—both programs of The Tree of Life—would serve as her mentor. The result was this first-of-a-kind Holocaust education patch program that was developed in partnership with the HCP and Lily from Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania (GSWPA) as her Gold Award project.

For more than two years, Lily met weekly with HCP staff members Emily Loeb and Julia Gaetano to envision, design, and develop the Holocaust education patch program. This work followed a rigorous, iterative process that included consultation with subject-matter experts and ongoing guidance from GSWPA. Following this process, the curriculum and patch were approved. A sustainability plan was then developed to ensure the program’s continuation beyond Lily’s participation as a Girl Scout, and GSWPA recommended that HCP assume ownership and copyright of the curriculum and patch in order to manage the program moving forward. The Jewish Women’s Foundation of Greater Pittsburgh awarded funding to support the staff time and resources required for its development.

Launch Event

On December 7, 2025, HCP celebrated the patch program with a public launch event. Watch the recording below.

The Patch Design

In addition to creating the program curriculum, Lily Sassani is the artist behind the patch.