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Story by Erinn Burgess
U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz
Members of the Baumholder Keystone Club packaged their first shipment of hurricane relief supplies to be sent to the Bahamas, Sept. 19 at Wetzel Teen Center.
The Keystone Club holds a collection drive through Dec. 1 for an orphanage that was ravaged by Hurricane Dorian.
“I feel that if you are in a good place and you’re able to help out others without hurting yourself, you should,” Keystone Club President Mia D. said. “We’re all able to give a little bit of something. People [in the Bahamas] don’t have basic items right now, so if we can help in some way to make their day better, we should do that.”
The club’s vice president, Jasmine J., added that collecting donation items is a way to help others and give them what they need.
Mia and Jasmine were key players in the youth-developed initiative to collect items for the orphanage, along with other members from the club.
The club is collecting items such as diapers, baby formula and food, children’s clothing, toiletries, bath towels, toys, kitchen items, and more. Community members can donate new or gently used items to Wetzel Teen Center, Landstuhl School Age Center or Landstuhl Child Development Center 2.
Baumholder Keystone Club’s goal is to reach Legacy level for the fourth year in a row — the highest recognition level for Keystone clubs. In order to reach Legacy level, clubs must plan and implement a variety of outreach events, complete service learning activities and track volunteer hours, Ryan Flynn, Wetzel Teen Center director and Keystone Club adviser said.
But the Keystone Club youth aren’t the only ones staying busy at the Wetzel Teen Center.
In August, four youth members and their families took a resiliency trip to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, paid for by a grant awarded through the Installation Management Command Master Resiliency Program.
Flynn said the focus of the trip was to learn specific resiliency skills and put them to the test with experiential learning, for example, beating mental games and maintaining a positive frame of mind during a ropes course.
“Through the experiential learning and talking through things, we hope the youth will be able to take [the skills] back into their regular lives as force multipliers,” Flynn said.
For more information about getting involved with Baumholder Keystone Club or Wetzel Teen Center, or regarding the collection drive for the Hurricane Dorian victims, call the center at 06783-6-6810 or DSN 485-6810.
