Girl Scouts live up to their promise of service

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Omari Bernard
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  "On my honor, I will try to serve God and my country, to help people at all times, and to live by the Girl Scout Law."
- Girl Scout Promise

It's a bright and sunny day outside on JBER. The grass is green and the sky is a light blue.

A gaggle of giggling girls pass by with books in hand on their way into the Joint Venture Hospital. Spring has arrived, and along with it, Girl Scouts donating books.

During April, the Month of the Military Child, Girl Scout Daisy, Brownie and Junior troops on JBER collected donated books from families associated with JBER to give for other children to enjoy.

The Girl Scouts donated 266 books to the Teddy Watch at the JBER hospital.

"(It's) in honor of the 100-year anniversary of the Girl Scouts," said Jenna Ross, a military spouse and the leader of Daisy Troop 752.

"We're honoring the Girl Scout tradition of giving back to the community, supporting the military community, and honoring education."

The scouts themselves are military children, Ross said. All of them felt the need to give back to the community.

"These books will benefit military families and children," said Rob German, the Marketing and Funds Director for the Armed Services YMCA. "The books will help the kids pass time along with other toys in the facility."

Teddy Watch is a free child-care facility in the JBER hospital.

It allows military members and spouses to leave their children in child care
while attending their appointments in the hospital.

Teddy Watch is staffed by the YMCA and allows up to two hours of free child care.
"As soon as the parent finds out the appointment time, they can call Teddy Watch and schedule child care," German said.

The Teddy Watch is open daily from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. weekdays, except on federal holidays or when the hospital is closed.

Walk-ins are welcome if space permits.

The program's facility is located on the first floor of the hospital.

Some of the donated books will be used in the Teddy Watch, the rest will be spread out among other programs that also support military families.

"It was really fun to be able to focus on a positive project that was celebrating 100 years of Girl Scouts," Ross said. "This is a great collaboration between military children Girl Scouts coming to support a military program here on JBER."

"It's the community giving back to itself," German said.

"Some of the families that contributed the most books have deployed spouses," said Ross. "It really hit home what we were doing."