On Tuesday, April 17th, 26 girls and adults from Girl Scout Junior Troop 20051 and Cadette/Senior Troop 20054 met at Jacksonville First United Methodist Church to fold 400 American flags and write messages to send to US soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
This project started last year as
part of a Bronze Award leadership project for Junior Troop 20051. Stephanie
Hurd, one of the troop co-leaders, got the idea from her father who was stationed
in Afghanistan and received a pocket flag at a Marine checkpoint. The
“Pocket Flag Project” was started over 10 years ago by a Boy Scout troop in
Colorado. It provides a 2” x 3” folded flag for soldiers to carry in
their pocket with a note of encouragement to remind them they have supporters
at home. To date, the project has sent over 1.7 million flags to soldiers
serving on the front lines. As part of their Bronze Award, the troop also
learned how to be a model citizen and performed a flag ceremony at the Major
Dwayne Williams Memorial in Jacksonville. 
Thanks to donations provided by the Bellsouth Pioneers, American Legion post in Piedmont, VFW post and VFW Auxiliary post in Anniston, 1,200 flags have been sent to active-duty soldiers in Bagram and Kandahar, Afghanistan by Troops 20051 and 20054. They would like to make this a continuous effort. For more information on this project, contact Stephanie Hurd at juniortroop51@yahoo.com.
