Freeport Girl Scouts to organize educational forum

Three Freeport Girl Scout Cadettes from Troop 2086 are working on their Silver Award, the highest honor attainable by middle school scouts. Lily, Kendell, and Adrianne have taken on the responsibility of organizing a Substance Abuse Forum, investing a collective total of 50 hours into the planning, organization, and execution of this event. Their objective is to contribute to the community in a self-sustainable manner by devising various ideas to address its needs.

Initially, the project revolved around general safety concerns in Freeport. However, the scouts soon realized that the issue of substance abuse was consistently raised by members of the community. This topic hits close to home for Lily, Kendell, and Adrianne as they have all witnessed friends or family members grappling with substance abuse.

The Substance Abuse Forum will adopt a panel format, featuring speakers from different backgrounds. The lineup includes a health teacher from Freeport Schools, a community member associated with the AA program at the Freeport library, a representative from the South Shore Child Guidance Center/Care Center, and a speaker from THRIVE.

While not every Girl Scout Cadette elects to pursue the Silver Award, these three girls willingly invested their time and effort over the course of eight months to bring this event to fruition. Amidst their academic commitments, the scouts diligently attended Zoom meetings to finalize the format they intend to present.

The primary aim of the forum is to raise awareness about the resources available for combating substance abuse within the community. Colleen Haithman, the troop leader of these three scouts, emphasized the importance of conveying the message that different age groups have access to distinct resources. Haithman expressed her pride in the girls, highlighting their genuine dedication and personal connection to this cause. She noted that each of them has been directly affected by substance abuse either through close friends, family members, or acquaintances.

“I am so proud of them because this is the first project that they really had passion about this is really true and dear to their hearts,” Haithman said. “They’ve all said they know somebody either close to them, a family member or friend, that this has influenced that they’ve watched have this transpire or a friend, a family friend. Wow. The passion of it, I think, you know, it’s just near and dear to their heart.”

The panel discussion seeks to foster unity within the community by addressing the pervasive issue of substance abuse and enlightening the audience about available resources for those who choose to seek help. The event is scheduled to take place on June 9 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Bayview Elementary School cafeteria, located at 325 West Merrick RD. Access to the event will be available through the rear parking lot.