U.S. veterans of foreign wars are the focus of a tribute being organized by Wheaton-area Cadette Girl Scout Eliza Farrell for her Silver Award, the highest honor a Cadette can earn.
The Good Counsel High School freshman is looking for help from scouts, youth groups, senior citizens, veteran's organizations, and others in making paper poppies, which she and other Girl Scouts in her "Poppy Brigade" plan to distribute to visitors to Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day.
Poppies are an international symbol for remembering war dead popularized by the poem, On Flander's Fields, by John McCrae. The scout's project is designed to raise awareness among young people to the sacrifices that their grandparents and great-grandparents made in going to war to protect America's freedoms.
Already, Junior, Cadette, and Senior Girl Scouts from across Montgomery County are helping Miss Farrell make poppies, and she has nearly 1,000 ready to distribute. The teen has been visiting scout troops with her homemade poppy kits to discuss the role veterans played in their lives while making the lapel flowers. The project has taken on added significance since the tragic events of September 11, 2001 in New York City, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C.
Supplies for the project are being paid for out of Miss Farrell's Girl Scout cookie sale proceeds to her troop last year. She is a third-year Cadette scout in Troop 3565.
Groups interested in making poppies for the Poppy Brigade can contact Miss Farrell for instructions or kits at PoppyProject@hotmail.com. The Poppy Brigade will be distributing the flowers at the South Entrance to the cemetery's Amphitheater at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month this year, with permission secured by Miss Farrell from the U.S. Department of the Army.
