WESTFIELD — Some of Westfield’s youngest residents are on track to leave a lasting impact on the community through public service and social awareness.
Last month, the fifth-grade members of Westfield Girl Scout Troop 40099 worked to install a series of “See Me Flags” — lightweight, bright orange flags that can be picked up and used by pedestrians to increase visibility in crosswalks — at three separate locations throughout the town.
“We decided to install these flags as part of our Bronze A w a r d Project,” said 10- year- old Annie Parks. “We realized that there have been a lot of concerns about traffic and safety, and we thought this would be a good way to help.”
The flags have been installed on Willow Grove Road near Tamaques Elementary School, on Rahway Avenue and near the Westfield Area YMCA.
“We tried to pick places where we know a lot of kids and seniors have to cross the street,” troop member Ella Soriero explained.
Pedestrians at any of the designated crosswalks are invited to pick up one of the colorful flags as they step into the street to make themselves more noticeable to motorists. The flags, each of which includes a stripe of reflective tape, also can provide extra visibility at night.
“We put containers for the flags on both sides of the road so that people can put them away when they are not using them,” said Sonja Berberich, 11. Unfortu nately, at least one of the flags has already been stolen. “We added stickers that say, ‘property of Troop 40099’ after that happened, so people know that they belong to us,” said Lucie Weiser, 11. “The flags are here to help people, so hopefully no more of them get taken.”
The girls raised the $600 to complete the project by holding fundraisers and dipping into the proceeds of this year’s cookie sales.The project,Troop Leader Elizabeth Berberich said, also allowed the girls to interact with town officials and school leaders.
“I think this gave them a good sense of what you have to do if you actually want to see something get done,” Ms. Berberich said. “It was a great experience.”
