By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES
LOS ANGELES, California – Filipino-American Sarah Tayag Elaebrak, a 14-year-old Girl Scout cadette, will be spending the early weeks of her summer break volunteering for the Special Olympics Host Town Program of Santa Clarita.
She and 13 fellow scouts from her troop are going to make 150 welcome cards and will be sewing and assembling customized drawstring bags that Special Olympics athletes will be using.
“We are looking forward to interacting with them,” said Elaebrak, who enjoys competitive swimming and rock climbing.
Santa Clarita will serve as host town in July of the Special Olympics athletes from the Philippines, El Salvador, Faroe Islands and Malawi. Among the 143 participants from the four countries, 54 are from the Philippines.
Elaebrak says she feels a “personal connection” to the delegation from the Philippines because of her “mom and family.”
On the two occasions she went to her mother’s family home in the Philippines, she visited some places in Metro Manila, Baguio and Boracay.
Apart from Elaebrak, troop leader Tricia Cascione also has some kind of Philippine connection – her mother was born in Manila during World War II. Her grandfather was stationed in the country and was once a prisoner of war.
Cascione said that her mother loved the country, while she herself developed a liking for Filipino dishes like chicken adobo and egg rolls.
The troop leader said they have been preparing to host the delegates to the Special Olympics, training in First Aid and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), for instance. They also recently underwent a workshop that taught them about persons with disabilities or “people with differences.”
Debra Malinowski, another troop leader, said the cadettes know how to attend to people with special needs, and may lead different events because of their training.
The Host Town Program is a three-day pre-event activity for the Special Olympics World Games athletes from July 21 to 24. Aside from providing food, transportation and accommodations, 100 host towns, cities and civic organizations plan cultural activities that will allow participants to get to know their host communities.
Based on the latest report of Host Town Chairperson Jackie Hartmann, Santa Clarita has received a total of $12,300 donations in kind and $34,600 in cash for the Host Town Program.
Eighty-three Girl Scouts from 11 troops, including Cascione’s, will be rendering 3,500 hours of service working on several activities, like preparing gift bags and other supplies the participants would be needing.
They all will also be decorating function halls and assisting participants during different events, such as a scheduled parade inside the Westfield Valencia Town Center shopping mall and a picnic at Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park.
The service the scouts are to offer will allow the 8th and 9th graders in Cascione’s troop to earn the Silver Award or “the highest they can earn as cadettes,” but beyond that, members know that they will learn something from the experience.
Melissa Dewey, 14, appreciates the “opportunity to help” while Joanna Veres, also 14, views it a chance to show acceptance and how to treat people equally because she says treating PWDs differently is “the same as being racist or sexist.”
Troop members Jacqueline Cascione and Emily Nalinowski, both 14, say they admire athletes with special needs because of their “happy disposition” and how they are able to cheer for one another during games while maintaining a competitive spirit.
The Special Olympics World Games will be held in Los Angeles, California from July 25 to August 2.
Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts in 1912 on the belief that “all girls should be given the opportunity to develop physically, mentally and spiritually,” and work toward the “goal of bringing girls out of isolated home environments into community service and the open air.”