WUNRN
September 8, 2009 - Agence France Presse
Alexandria Ramseier, a Brownie with the Girl Scouts of Guantanamo Bay Troop, helps a Joint Task Force Guantanamo Trooper pick out cookies at the Seaside Galley, July 2. Ramseier and other Girl Scouts spent two days handing out donated cookies. (JTF Guantanamo photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Richard M. Wolff, 2 July 2009)__________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
launched a campaign Tuesday to entice the blue, brown and green-clad multitudes
to be even more prepared, with the promise of a new patch if they pitch in.
The young scouts will be able to emblazon
their sashes or vests with the patch if they undergo the training which readies
them for an emergency.
"This new preparedness patch will
increase citizen preparedness and enhance our country's readiness for
disasters," said DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano in a statement.
"As a former Girl Scout, I know the 'Be
Prepared' motto well, and I look forward to working with the Girl Scouts to
spread the preparedness message to all of our nation's citizens."
The move is part of a month-long government
effort to make Americans better able to cope with natural and man-made disasters.
Napolitano has urged individuals, families
and businesses to stock fresh water and food, and prepare an emergency plan --
to be enacted in the event of a disaster.
The unveiling of the patch marks a
partnership between the scouts and Citizen Corps, a community-based initiative
under the DHS's Federal Emergency Management Agency, which coordinates national
response to disasters.
Girl Scouts of the
The patch will be available alongside
existing Girls Are Great, Girl Scouts Against Smoking, Media Know-How and Read
to Lead patches, and, of course, the Cookie Sale Activity Pin.
Girl Scouts sell an astonishing 200 million
boxes of cookies each year on average, according to the organization, which was
founded in 1912 and chartered by the US Congress in 1950.
It is not the first time the girl guides have
been called into action in defense of the homeland.
During World War II, Girl Scouts
"operated bicycle courier services, invested more than 48,000 hours in
Farm Aid projects, collected fat and scrap metal, and grew Victory
Gardens," according to Girl Scouts of the USA.
As the end of the second millennium neared
and computers around the world were expected to be stricken with a debilitating
bug, Girl Scouts were enlisted in some parts of the country to hand out advice
about the threat poised by Y2K.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks scouts
hosted remembrance ceremonies and wrote thank-you letters to rescuer workers.
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