For Immediate Release                                                                                                          Media Contacts: Collin Nash and Sid Nathan

Dec. 15, 2010                                                                                                                                                                         (516) 869-7794

Town of North Hempstead Honors Girl Scout Hero

North Hempstead, NY--As has become customary, every so often Supervisor Jon Kaiman and North Hempstead Elected Officials bestow recognition to special individuals residing in the Town who have accomplished outstanding deeds.

This past Tuesday’s pre-board meeting acknowledgement spotlighted a heroic Girls Scout from Daisy Troop 1189: Emma Madalon Khafif, a precocious six-year-old from Westbury.

Calling young Emma “a true hero”, Supervisor Kaiman invited her to join him and four other Town Board members on the dais where she boldly recounted her heroic act on Christmas Eve last year.

“Me and my brother were playing in the den and mom told us to go to our room because we were bothering my dad. We went and I smelled something like smores. (typically made by Scouts, smores are created by stacking a marshmallow on a square of chocolate sandwiched between two graham crackers and warmed over a campfire until the marshmallow and chocolate partially melt). I went and told my mom and she came out of bed and found there was a fire in the garage. We saved the life of myself and my family.”

As it turned out, the odor of smores Emma smelled was caused by an electrical fire from the family’s fish tank in the garage. Once Emma’s mother, Leslie, called 911, the family ran out of the house and watched from the car as firefighters doused the fire.

In acknowledgement of Emma’s incredibly alert reaction, Girl Scouts of the USA awarded her with the National Medal of Honor, a decoration given for saving a life or attempting to save a life without risk to the candidate’s own life.

After pinning the medal on young Emma, Donna Ceravolo, executive director and CEO of Girl Scouts of Nassau County, Inc, said: “It represents great courage which was shown in the fact that you saved the life of yourself and your family.”

Receiver Charles Berman, Gonna Ceravola, Town Clerk Leslie Gross, Councilwoman Fred L. Pollack, Councilwoman Viviana L. Russell, Special Girl Scout Honoree Emma Madalon Khafif, Donna Rivera-Downey, Supervisor Jon Kaiman