Growing up with a parent who has diabetes can be confusing and scary for a child. That’s why Girl Scout Elizabeth, who is a child of a diabetic parent, dedicated her Gold Award project to creating learning resources for children of diabetic parents.

“When you’re young and you have a parent who is diabetic you don’t necessarily understand why something is wrong and you can find yourself in situations that can be scary and you don’t know what to do,” she said. “I wanted to give children an opportunity to understand what is going on and have a sense of how to handle a situation where someone has blood sugar that is too high or low and make them feel more prepared for that.”

Elizabeth, now a student at New York University, worked with the American Diabetes Association to create a pamphlet for children of diabetics that explained what diabetes is, what it does to the body, why diabetics need to test their blood sugar, and what to do in an emergency situation.

In addition to creating the brochure, Elizabeth ran booths at several ADA events to spread the word about her cause.

“People were really excited to hear about what I was doing. At an event in Annapolis a girl around my age was very excited about the brochure and we talked about it–she was glad the ADA was providing this resource now,” Elizabeth said.

The pamphlet will continue to be distributed by the ADA.

Elizabeth is one of 138 central Maryland Girl Scouts receiving the Girl Scout Gold Award this year. The Girl Scout Gold Award recipients will be honored at the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland Gold Award Banquet this weekend.