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Girl's Scout Project Gets Seal Of Approval

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By SUSAN M. GREEN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 28, 2008

RIVERVIEW - Jessica Smith of Riverview was among 32 Gold Award recipients honored June 14 at a reception in Tampa hosted by the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida.

The Gold Award, similar to the Boy Scouts' Eagle Award, is the highest award that a Girl Scout ages 14 to 18 can earn. According to www.girlscouts .org, it involves logging up to 70 hours in a leadership role and career exploration, plus planning and executing a community service project.

Smith's project involved crafting and distributing handmade greeting cards to residents of a nursing facility and children's home for them to send to loved ones.

Smith said she made some of the cards and recruited volunteers to make others, for a total of about 200 cards. She estimated it took three or four months to make the cards. Then she delivered them to Brandon Health & Rehabilitation Center and the Cookson Hills Family Ministries of Florida children's home in Seffner.

"I had always noticed since I was 12 or so that people always remember children and people in nursing homes around Christmas. ... But nobody remembers them any other time of the year," Smith said.

"We might end up in a nursing home ourselves some day, and it's not fair of us to forget them."

Gregory Laugelli, activities director at Brandon Health, said he was skeptical at first of Smith's offer to provide cards to the nursing home's residents. But when she brought them in, he was impressed with the number and quality of the cards she delivered. He said she provided a variety that could be used for different holidays, birthdays or other occasions. And she didn't forget the envelopes.

"She brightened the lives of 100 people in this building," he said. "A couple of them just cried."

Laugelli said most of the residents are on Medicaid and receive $35 a month for personal expenses, including toiletries and clothing. The price of a greeting card is out of reach for many, Laugelli said.

He said he also was impressed that Smith returned to the home and conducted a card-making workshop.

The Gold Award is the culmination of 13 years in Girl Scouts for Smith.

She is the daughter of Royce and Pamela Smith, who moved to Riverview about seven years ago after a military career. Jessica Smith has been attending classes at Hillsborough Community College for a year. She said she hopes to become a coroner or coroner's assistant in a hospital.

She said she drew inspiration from the Eagle Award project of her brother, James, who helped restore a World War II cargo ship, the SS American Victory, a few years ago. The ship is open for tours in Tampa's Channel District.

Reporter Susan M. Green can be reached at (813) 865-1566 or sgreen@tampatrib.com.

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