About

“Know 2 Numbers” is a Girl Scout Gold Award project created by a Senior Girl Scout in Girl Scouts of Nassau County Troop 3076.  This is how K2N was inspired, why it was created, and who it is dedicated to.

September 21st, 2023, was the twelfth day of school since starting her freshman year of high school.  She was going on her first trip to Band Camp, a four-day retreat four hours away at a beautiful campground to learn and practice the football season’s marching band halftime show.  Band Camp was something she had been looking forward to finally going to for the first time after years of hype in her school district’s music program.  

The day started off great.  Everyone could feel the excitement as they packed up six motor coach buses with people and luggage and two box trucks full of instruments and equipment.  Nearly 300 student musicians, kick line dancers and color guard flag bearers who made up the Marching Band, their Marching Band Director, assistants, teachers and chaperones were ready to go and soon their journey began.  But nothing prepared them for the tragedy that would keep them from reaching their destination.  About 30 minutes before they were supposed to arrive at the campground, she was relaxing, listening to music through an AirPod with her friend sitting next to her wearing the other AirPod, and scrolling through her cell phone that was resting on her propped up leg.  Then out of nowhere, there was suddenly an issue that caused the first bus that she was in to veer off the highway, down a 50-foot ravine, and tip on its side. 

Her cell phone was tossed and lost in the chaos of the bus crash.  Her mother, who was chaperoning on a different bus, quickly found her and knew within minutes that she was alive and a general extent of her injuries.  While helping some of her injured classmates, her mother offered her cell phone to them to call a parent because many of them also had their cell phones tossed and lost.

It was heartbreaking to look around at her injured friends and classmates on the side of the road during triage sharing fear, sadness and confusion, but it was even worse for them because they did not have the ability to speak to their parents yet.  Most did not have their phone, and some did not know a phone number to call using someone else’s phone.  She later realized how fortunate she was to have her mother with her in person and her mother’s cell phone within minutes of the crash to contact other family.

At least 34 cell phones were tossed and lost.  Only 29 cell phones were collected by the authorities and reunited with their owners a week later.  Her phone and some others were never recovered.  Take a moment and think about that again: 34 people were without their phone and contact list immediately after experiencing a terrible bus crash, throughout going to an emergency room and hospital stay, still without it for the following week, and possibly not ever getting it returned. 

Three months after the bus crash, she was brainstorming ideas for her Girl Scout Gold Award project.  The project requirements include solving a problem for a community and being sustainable after it gets set up.  That’s when she had an aha moment!  She thought back to that heartbreaking scene on the side of the road with her injured friends and classmates and wondered how things might have been different had everyone known a phone number to call: how much quicker everyone would have been able to contact a parent, how much quicker they would have had the comfort of hearing their parent’s voice, and how much quicker their parents would know their child survived the bus crash before seeing the television news coverage first.

She never wants anyone to feel that fear and stress in emergencies, especially if your body is already in a state of shock. Soon after that, she came up with the idea of Know 2 Numbers as an annual initiative every September 21st to spread the message of why it is important to have at least two emergency contact numbers memorized and website resources to help memorize them.

The bus crash caused 42 people to be injured and 2 fatalities: their beloved Marching Band Director and a former teacher, who loved the Marching Band so much that she continued to chaperone after her retirement.  Know 2 Numbers is dedicated in memory of Ms. Pellettiere and Mrs. Ferrari because of their love of teaching others.  They are both the inspiration to teach others that “safety starts with memory…Know 2 Numbers!”