Alumnae Story
Surviving Hurricane Andrew

By Jaime Diaz
Homestead, Fla.

I have been a Girl Scout for many years, 14 years as a girl and six years as a leader. There are two leaders that I will always remember, Mr. and Mrs. Fuday, they were my Cadet and Senior leaders; we did everything together. There were only four girls in the troop, Angela, Lori, Francis and I. We always had our meeting at their house on Sunday mornings and we always had bagels and cream cheese. This is where I learned to love cream cheese as well as other Girl Scout ways.

We went camping a lot and Mr. Fuday made the best pancakes over a campfire. The best camping trip I think I ever took was when they took us backpacking out in the Everglades. I remember that we all had to carry half our body weight on our backs. I think this is where I really learned to carry my own and not to always depend on others. Mr. and Mrs. Fuday were my leaders up until Hurricane Andrew came and destroyed Homestead, Florida in August of 1992. I remember seeing them after the storm because they came by my parent's house to see how we were. My parents sent me to Weatherly, Pa. to go to school while everything was being rebuilt in Homestead. The first thing I made my Pappy do was take me to Hazelton, Pa. so I could sign up with the Girl Scouts. Girl Scouts helped me through missing my parents and being away from home. I was a Girl Scout there for six months, and then I came back to Homestead. I learned that Mr. and Mrs. Fuday moved away. I never did get back in Girl Scouts because there were no active troops in Homestead for a long time.

I am now married and I have three daughters of my own. My daughter Angela wanted to be a Girl Scout I was told that there wasn't enough leaders for all the girls who wanted to be Girl Scouts so I became a leader. I now have three troops: Daisies, Brownies, and Juniors and I have a daughter in each level.

Even though I had a great time in Girl Scouts and I have a lot of great memories, my favorite memory was on a Girl Scout trip in the summer of 2006 with my daughter Angela. We went to Savannah, Ga. to Juliette Gordon Low's house. It was a great experience for the both of us to go together. Who would have thought that the greatest memory in Girl Scouts for me would have been as a leader? I am so glad that I can share this memory with my own daughter and knowing that when Angela tells her daughter one day about our trip to Savannah she will remember me and all the fun we had together.

Maybe one day Angela and I can take her two sisters Ciara and Racheal to enjoy the same experience we had!