Girl Scout Heather Attanasio earns the Gold Award.
Girl Scout Heather Attanasio delivers voice recorders to the St. Peters University Hospital NICU.FRANKLIN -- Heather Attanasio, a Girl Scout with Troop 66339, can remember when her brother was born. He arrived two months early and spent three weeks in the NICU. "It was very hard on my family," recalls Heather.
It was that experience that led Heather to the project that would help her earn her Gold Award, the Girl Scouts' highest honor.
To earn the Gold Award a Scout must complete a leadership program and plan and execute a community service project. Heather created 25 care packages for the parents of children who are patients in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Saint Peter's University Hospital in New Brunswick.
"I provided care packages that had necessities that parents would need if they were unexpectedly transported to Saint Peters NICU," said Heather.
Each care package contained donated water bottles, toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, tissue packs, a handmade tissue pack cover, men's and women's deodorant, lotion, face wipes, comb, brush, journals and pens and a note card with message. Heather also donated 25 voice recorders for parents to record messages and stories for their children to listen to in their absence, handmade hats for the infants and burial gowns for when they were needed.
Last month, Heather received her Gold Award. She will be a senior at Franklin High School this fall.
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