Sophomore Becker student Morgan Meyer is currently working towards gaining her Girl Scout Gold Award — an award that is equivalent to the Eagle Scout Award given in Boy Scouts. 

 

The Gold Award consists of a minimum of 80 hours towards "making a change in your community or beyond.”

 

The first part of Morgan’s Gold Award task is to create and spread awareness for Cystic Fibrosis. Morgan is part of the Becker High School Dazzlers dance team and she and her teammates lost a good friend, classmate and fellow dancer, Brianna Bertram, to the disease a few years ago. In Brianna’s memory and for a good cause, Morgan has organized and will participate in a walk May 20, from 6-9:00 in the Becker Field House and she invites all to attend. 

 

To kick start her campaign, she created a website on Facebook called Step by Step: Recognizing CF. 

 

“I encourage everyone to come (to the event),” Morgan says. “The Step by Step CF Walk is the first part to grow closer as a community and learn about this disease that affects many right here in Becker and the surrounding area.” 

 

Cystic Fibrosis is the number one genetic disease for childhood deaths and the likelihood of a person knowing someone with CF is very high.  

 

“I don't want CF patients to have to keep their disease hidden from everyone else,” says Morgan. “And that comes with understanding the disease.  CF does not have to define a person, it is just a part of them.”  

 

The CF Awareness Walk’s cost for registration is $15 (age seven and under are free).  Morgan encourages everyone to “come and walk the track while you learn about cystic fibrosis.”

 

At the event, there will be CF information booths, a new local support group for CF families information, games and concessions to stop at during the walk. Becker City Council Member Tracy Bertram, who is a CF parent and mother of Brianna, will be on hand to tell all who visit about her story.  

 

Brianna passed away June 15, 2014 at 13 years old.

 

“That year, I was talking to my mom about Cystic Fibrosis and remembered that my mom had a cousin who was also taken from CF,” said Morgan. “I realized I didn’t now anything about CF, a genetic disease that had impacted me twice.”

 

At that point, Morgan decided that her community needed to learn about CF. 

 

“That’s why we need to create awareness about how serious this disease is,” she said. “That is the purpose of my walk.”

 

Karen and Richard Schmitt, family members of the Meyers and also CF parents who lost their son, will also be at the event to answer questions.  

 

“We will have door prizes given away throughout the night with the grand prize drawing at 8:30 p.m.,” said Morgan.  

 

The grand prize is an autographed football from Boomer Esiason, a retired NFL quarterback of the Cincinnati Bengals.  Esiason has a son with CF and the former QB has created his own foundation (Boomer Esiason Foundation - Fighting Cystic Fibrosis) and graciously donated many of the door prizes for Morgan’s event.

 

To pre-register for the walk to be included in the drawings, Morgan asks those interested to visit the registration page at:  http://gslakesandpines.org/?p=4671.

 

She also encourages all to “like” her page on Facebook:  Step by Step: Recognizing CF.

 

For anyone with questions regarding the Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Walk or seminar, they are asked to contact Morgan at 763-355-2433 or by email at stepbystepcfgsga@gmail.com.

 

Before succumbing to the disease, Brianna Bertram inspired her teammates and friends with a quote that has stuck with Morgan Meyer through the years.