Girl Scout earns Bronze Award for emergency responder stuffed animal drive

Ainslee Manduca broke her first bone at 11 months old.

She and many of her family members suffer from osteogenesis imperfecta, or OI, which weakens their bones. The frequent bone breaks she had due to this condition led to her spending much of her childhood in the back of an ambulance. 

She was often frightened in the ambulance because she was missing something very important.

“I never got a stuffy, and I was scared every single time I went to the ambulance,” Ainslee, 10, said. “And I don’t want other kids to feel scared like how I did.”

That’s why she began collecting stuffed animals and giving them to local emergency services last July. She started the drive for her Girl Scout Bronze Award, which she was awarded during a ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 10.

Over the past 16 months, Ainslee has collected over 300 stuffed animals for local emergency services, according to her mother, Sara Phillips, who helps run Ainslee’s Girl Scout troop.

Ainslee got the idea to start the drive last year when her family was moving. Phillips told her that they had too many stuffed animals at home.

So Ainslee and her grandmother, Cheryl Manduca, decided to bring the stuffed animals to the fire department and police station.

“This one marches her way into the fire department and said, ‘I have some stuffed animals for you,’” Phillips said.

Phillips and Cheryl Manduca are two leaders in Troop 64968. Both are self-described lifetime Girl Scouts. 

Cheryl Manduca said that living with OI prevented her and her family members from playing sports as children. “[Scouting] is how we do stuff and get active and go out,” she said.

Many of Ainslee’s fellow scouts live with autism and ADHD, Phillips said. Another leader has a condition that causes seizures. “Our first aid badge always looks different than the other troops that just learn stop, drop and roll,” she said.

Understanding her family’s medical situation and learning about how to help others with different conditions helped Ainslee save someone’s life. Her aunt had a seizure, and Ainslee knew that after five minutes, she had to call 911 to get her medical assistance. She got a Lifesaving Award for taking action.

“I’m glad that we practiced because if we didn’t, I wouldn’t know what to do,” Ainslee said.

Ainslee said she will continue collecting stuffed animals for local emergency responders, even after getting her Bronze Award.

Wareham Emergency Medical Services Director Brad Allen said that he was grateful that Ainslee donated stuffed animals to them. He said he was glad that they haven’t had to bring the ambulance to any children since Ainslee dropped them off over a month ago, but that they’re ready for such a case.

The stuffed animals are “certainly going to help out in the future in those situations, which are thankfully few and far between,” Allen said.

Ainslee said this is her first step to improving life for all people.

“I’m glad that I was able to help the others because I’m trying to make the world a better place,” she said. “So I figure I could start off with this.”