NEWBURGH – Emily Cucci, 16, of Cornwall, NY, recently completed her Girl Scout Gold Award project, benefiting St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital’s (SLCH) youngers patients. Her effort, titled “Swaddled with Love,” resulted in 120 knitted and crocheted blankets and hats for babies in SLCH’s Elaine Kaplan Neonatal Intensive Care Unity.
Emily recruited and organized a team of 70 volunteers from the Cornwall community that dedicated more than 86 hours to complete the project. In addition to making the items that were donated, she was able to secure donations from both individuals and local business to cover the cost of materials.
One of the groups who worked on the project, the Country Quilters Guild, has agreed to sustain the effort through their own community service efforts.
“My project was about bring love and joy to not only the babies born into the NICU, but also to their parents,” Emily said. “It is an incredibly stressful time for a baby to be in the NICU. I hope that providing them with a hat and a blanket to swaddle them in, gave a moment of joy to all.”
Swaddled with Love was the latest in Emily’s efforts at volunteerism. Along with her fellow troop members from Cornwall, she has helped decorate the Christmas trees on both SLCH’s Newburgh and Cornwall campuses.
The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award available in Girl Scouts. Open only to girls in high school, it is considered the most prestigious and most difficult award to earn. The award requires a project designed at solving a problem at the local, national or global level. The seven steps involved include identifying an issue, investigating it thoroughly, getting help and building a team, creating a plan, presenting the plan and gathering feedback, taking action, and educating and inspiring by sharing the results.
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