Girl Scouts raising money for traffic safety
Hazel Flink knows all too well what it’s like to walk to school in Abbotsford when you’re not entirely sure if traffic is going to stop as you cross through busy intersections.
The seventh-grader at Abbotsford Middle School, who lives on the south end of the city, must cross West Spruce Street (also known as Business 29 for the semi trucks making local stops) in order to make it to school and back.
“I hate going on that road,” she said. “I always get scared that I’m going to get run over. I just don’t like going across roads when there’s a lot of traffic.”
Fortunately for Flink and other students who walk to school in Abbotsford, the city is about to complete a Safe Routes to School project that is using local and federal money to improve pedestrian safety on roads leading to the Abby K-12 campus on North Fourth Avenue.
Last summer, West Spruce Street was narrowed in an effort to slow down traffi c on the thoroughfare coming into the city, and a new set of stop signs was added to the intersection with Fourth Avenue.
Flink’s fellow Girl Scout, Lily Esselman, said the stop signs by themselves aren’t enough to keep the Spruce-Fourth intersection safe for pedestrians.
“A lot of people don’t really stop at the stop sign; they just go past,” Esselman said. “That can cause some bad accidents, so it would probably help to have the flashing lights on the stop signs.”
The original plan was to add rapid flashing beacons (RFB) at that intersection, but the location of the beacons was recently changed to the T-intersection of Cedar Street and Fourth Avenue, another area where a lot of students have to cross in order to get to school.
Instead, the Flink and Esselman are raising money for LED lights to be added to the stop signs at Spruce and Fourth.
Flink and Esselman would like to help pay for the lights as part of a service project to earn a Silver Award from the Girl Scouts.
The two friends have been in the Girl Scouts since about first grade, and
STAFF PHOTO/KEVIN O’BRIEN
they’ve previously earned their Bronze Award for helping start a “Kindness in a Backpack” program at Abbotsford Elementary in 2019. Flink and Esselman joined three other Junior Scouts in Troop 7104 to start a weekly food drive for students whose families struggle to provide meals on the weekends.
The two Scouts said they enjoyed doing that project and felt good about helping people in need. The goal is the same with their Silver Award project: to help their community with a pressing need.
They need to raise $3,500 to pay for the lights, and to kick off their fundraising campaign, they are holding a plant and craft sale, along with a lemonade stand, in the parking lot of the TP Printing Co., 103 West Spruce St., this Saturday, May 8, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
To prepare for the fundraiser, the two Scouts spent a Saturday going around to area greenhouses and purchasing potted flowers and plants. They’ve also created flower and heart-shaped crafts made out of wood scraps from a stormdamaged tree on the Esselman family land.
Lily’s dad used a woodworking machine to make the shapes, and the girls painted the borders of the hearts and added a chalkboard area at the center.
“You can write little messages with chalk inside of them,” Flink said.
Under Girl Scout rules, Flink and Esselman are not allowed to solicit donations from businesses and individuals, but they are accepting small donations.
It’s taken a lot of work just for them to get to the point where they can start raising money.
A lot of paperwork was required to get the Girl Scouts to sign off on the project, and they also had to go before the Abbotsford City Council to get approval, which was granted.
Flink and Esselman said it was a little intimidating to go before the city council and explain their project, but they’re glad they did. All the work they put in is part of why they choose to wear the iconic Girl Scout sash in the first place.
When asked what they like about being in the Scouts, Flink immediately responds: “Helping and also having fun.”
