On Wednesday, Feb. 28, Girl Scout Troop 3928, from Burke handed out free homemade "phone bracelets" at the Giant in the Huntsman Square Shopping Mall. Distributing the phone bracelets and educating the public about the dangers of distracted driving is part of the girls’ journey toward earning the Girl Scout Bronze Award, the highest honor a Junior Girl Scout can achieve.

The bracelets were homemade with one side decorated by the girls to wear on your wrist. Then, when driving, the bracelets can be flipped around to the side with the slogan and used to cover up the screen of a cell phone to help keep the driver from looking at it and getting distracted.

The girls came up with several ideas of how they wanted to make the community a safer place to live and ended up agreeing that one of the biggest problems we face in today's society is texting and driving--not only with teenage drivers, but in drivers of every age. As part of their research, they discovered some alarming statistics, including the fact that texting and driving kills thousands of people in the US every year. The girls created something simple to slip on and off that would serve as a reminder to "Just Keep Driving!"

Girl Scout Troop 3928 includes 3 leaders and 14 fifth grade girls from elementary schools in the Burke area.