Alicia Landreville (center) of Girl Scouts Troop 5183 in Les Cheneaux poses with Clark Township Volunteer Ambulance Corps Captain Kathy Kasper and Mackinac County Sheriff Scott Strait at the Clark Township Ambulance Hall Saturday, October 17. Miss Landreville organized a project to sew 15 quilts for emergency workers to help comfort children involved in accidents. Alicia Landreville, 18, of Hessel has been a Girl Scout as long as she can remember. She's participated in camp-outs, community projects, and earned dozens of badges and awards. Now a freshman at Lake Superior State University, she is in the process of completing her Gold Award, Girl Scouts' highest achievement.

To earn the award, she organized a project to sew 15 quilts to be packaged with small stuffed animals for emergency workers to give to children coping with the emotional backlash of an accident or emergency.

"We're trying to make them feel better when they get into an accident and bring them a little more comfort then just having strange people bring them to the hospital," she said.

She presented the quilts and toys to Kathy Kasper of the Clark Township Volunteer Ambulance Corps and Mackinac County Sheriff Scott Strait at the Clark Township Ambulance Hall in Cedarville Saturday, October 17.

"When we have the occasional pediatric patient, these will be great for them, but especially if we help on a structure fire and there are kids outside," Mrs. Kasper said. "It's just something to hang onto when everything else seems pretty crazy."

She said the ambulance corps will share the quilts with the Clark Township Volunteer Fire Department when responding to a fire.

Miss Landreville had only a few weeks to complete her project once it was approved by a regional council of Girl Scout officials. Her project was approved in early September and had to be completed by September 30, which marks the end of the Girl Scouts calendar year. She organized several scouts to help her to sew the 15 quilts in that short time to meet the deadline. She said a quilt could be completely sewn in two days. Girl Scout Sara Landreville, project advisor Margaret Lamoreaux, and Troop 5183 leader Jeanette Landreville, who is also Alicia Landreville's mother, helped sew the quilts.

Her project is awaiting a final review and approval from the regional council in November before she will receive the Gold Award.

Sheriff Strait thinks the project is a great idea and will help to comfort children with injured family members.

"A lot of times emergency professionals and police officers are so worried about caring for the injured in a physical sense, that the emotional injuries sometimes are out of sight. This is something that will help with that, too," he said. "It's a great project. She did a wonderful job with this."

He said sheriff deputies will each keep a quilt and stuffed animal, which are paired together in sealed plastic bags, in their patrol cars.

Miss Landreville purchased the quilting supplies from a fabric store and the stuffed animals were donated for the project by a friend, Fawn Moeller of Cedarville, who works with Miss Landreville's mother.