My name is Ella Piergrossi.  I am in sixth grade and on the U13 White Team.  I was excited to be a part of the RAGE Leadership Academy and complete a community service project.  Although many community service projects benefit the less fortunate, I wanted to support some of the people who risk their lives and take care of our community.  I chose to focus on my local fire station, Station 2.​ ​

The first step was visiting the station.  Even though it’s less than a five minute drive from my house, I had never been there or seen it before.  That gave me the opportunity to meet some of the firefighters and ask a lot of questions.  I learned each firefighter works a shift of 48 straight hours, each shift has 4 firefighters, and there are 3 shifts.  

Not being with their families around the holidays, I wanted the firefighters to have some holiday spirit in the station.  In order to make sure each of the three shifts were shown how much the community appreciates them, I brought
​Christmas trees, cards, ornaments, treats on three different days.  However, I didn’t do this alone.  I sent out about 30 letters to people in the Station 2 service area, so they could get involved too.  On December 22nd, I organized a station tour. About 25 people showed up to meet the firefighters.  Many of them brought treats, ornaments, and cards for the firefighters as well. 
I found out Station 2 services Hart Middle School, so I involved Mrs. Geasa’s class in the project.  As a class we made 31 puzzle piece wreaths as ornaments.  The puzzle pieces we used were from a super hero puzzle because the firemen are our superheroes.  As a class we also made personalized thank you notes.  The ornaments decorated the trees and the notes were given to each firefighter.
I really enjoyed doing this project.  Not only did we give back to the people who protect our community, but we also got to learn a lot about what firefighters do.  Even though giving back and learning were an amazing part of this project, my favorite part was making personal relationships with the people who risk their lives each and every day for me, my friends, my family, and the community of Pleasanton.  Additionally, this project taught me how to lead, learn, take responsibility, and most of all how to help my community.