US Department of State, Safe Passage newsletter, November 2008, Vol. 2, Issue 14
Vermont Girl Scouts are CHAMPS
At its annual Clearing the Path Gala in Washington, D.C., the
Marshall Legacy Institute recently honored two Girl Scout Troops
for their fundraising efforts. Through the Marshall Legacy Institute’s
Children Against Mines Program (CHAMPS), 20 fourth-graders in
Girl Scout Troops 125 and 820 from Essex Junction and Williston,
Vermont, raised $20,000 to sponsor a lifesaving mine-detection dog
(MDD) named Champlain to “sniff out” landmines and save lives in
war-torn Lebanon.
But the girls didn’t stop there. With support from Marcelle and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the scouts raised an additional $6,000 to provide a new prosthetic leg for a young landmine survivor named Anita in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Champlain was trained.
Troop 125 Leader Jennifer Mignano traveled with her daughter Maria
to Bosnia in June on MLI’s Donor Delegation Trip. Once there, they
attended the CHAMPS nternational Meeting in Sarajevo and met
Anita and her parents.
Bosnian landmine suvivorAnita is pictured above (second
from left) with her parents and
Maria and Jennifer Mignano.
The Girl Scouts are more determined than ever to continue the
CHAMPS program. They plan to have a monthly video conference
with a school in southern Lebanon and provide assistance to young
landmine survivors there.
Thousands of students have helped raise more than $320,000 in
CHAMPS campaigns throughout the U.S. in the past three years,
sponsoring 16 lifesaving MDDs. In addition, they have raised more
than $24,000 to help children who have been injured by landmines.
According to MLI, the organization has donated nearly 100 of the
more than 800 MDDs operating in mine-contaminated countries
around the world. MDD programs have been established in 27 of the
72 mine-affected countries so far.
GO CHAMPS!