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Brittany receiving a Letter of Commendation from Division 8 Commander Braxton Ezell |
Ever wonder how you could get some of the things you really need for your flotilla? Well, this is what one flotilla did to not only encourage a community service project, but ended up receiving much more than the basic first aid kits they asked for!
Two years ago, I received a call from Monique Ring, Girl Scout leader for Troop 169, Girl Scout Council of Southwest Florida, asking if I would work with Brittany, her daughter, on her Gold Award. The Gold Award in Girl Scouts is comparable to the Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project in Boy Scouts to plan and implement an individual "Take Action" project that reaches beyond the Girl Scout organization and provides a sustainable, lasting benefit to the girl's larger community. Brittany wanted a community project that would continue long after her efforts completed the tasks she set for herself. The Coast Guard Auxiliary seemed to be an organization that could use her services.
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Brittany receiving a Certificate of Appreciation from Judi Bidwick, her mentor for this project |
As the Immediate Past Commander of Flotilla 86 in Venice at the time, I worked with our Emergency Medical Services Trainer, Arthur Sperling, to design an emergency kit for each of our operational facilities. We produced a wish list that we might purchase with grant money in the future. In the meantime, Brittany contacted the Commander of our flotilla and asked how she could help in their rescue missions. Brittany and I discussed possible projects that could be useful and sustaining for our flotilla and we decided that she would design a series of tasks that related to our Emergency Health Services Plan. After receiving approval to proceed with the project, she wrote emails and letters, made phone calls, and designed flyers to share with her family, friends, summer coworkers and community business partners to build an awareness of the needs of our Auxiliary and her project.
In addition to procuring items for our boats she would prepare 500 DVDs that outline the services that our flotilla offers the greater Sarasota-Venice community on the water, at the boat docks, at marinas, and in the classroom. This effort to educate the local community would be an effort to show how the Auxiliary, specifically Flotilla 86, helps to educate boaters, rescue boaters in trouble, perform vessel safety checks, administer the clean marina program, and provide an ongoing member training program for Auxiliary members.. It also would educate viewers to the importance of getting involved as a volunteer in the Auxiliary.
Brittany spent the next two and a half years working with community organizations to secure donations to stock our emergency kits, while discussing her plans and achievement with me along the way. A local procurement business entrepreneur helped her identify organizations and correspond with potential resources to help support this cause. In addition, the help from her family, friends and summer coworkers, helped to spread her email to further the word of need and build community awareness for the need for first aid kits. Additional resources included graphic artists, audio recording technology persons, and healthcare professionals who helped with content review, education DVD design and recording. As her mentor, I continued to guide her efforts toward a reasonable accumulation of items that would be used by our coxswains and crew aboard our facilities while on patrol, training, or on rescue missions.
On Tuesday, November 1, Flotilla 86 received 15 waterproof emergency kits and 15 trauma backboards at the general meeting. An award was presented to Brittany from the Flotilla 86 in front of representatives of the Girl Scout Council, her mother, flotilla members, and some of those who assisted with her donations. In addition, Braxton Ezell, Division 8 Commander and Paulette Parent, Division 8, Commander Elect, presented Brittany with a Letter of Commendation for her effort and hours of service toward designing this project and accruing the donations.
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"I have developed 500 DVDs on Water Safety Education for the Auxiliary to distribute during their community events and public presentation, as well as to have as a download on their website." |
"As part of my Gold Award for Girl Scouts, I wanted to help support the volunteers of our local Coast Guard Auxiliary by building 15 First Aid waterproof kits including trauma backboards for them to use during their coastal waterway emergencies missions." Brittany Ring |
"I have over 250 hours committed to this project over the past two years." Monique Ring, Brittany Ring, Judi Bidwick packing first aid boxes. | "I am happy to be part of contributing to, and bettering my world and community by presenting the $22,000.00 project of donations to the Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 86 in November 2011." Brittany Ring, Judi Bidwick | Loading the truck to deliver the donated items to Flotilla 86. Brittany Ring |
GJA ~ 11/25/11