A metro Atlanta Girl Scout just earned the organization’s highest honor.

Channel 2′s Berndt Petersen was along Dallas Highway where Leighanne Bryant, 18, formed a non-profit to help military families.

Bryant, of Cobb County, owns quite a snappy vest. It’s covered with dozens of patches and pins. Since the third grade, she has been working on earning one particular gold one.

“It felt surreal. It felt like I was closing a chapter in my life,” Bryant said.

It is the Girl Scouts Gold Award. It is reserved for the best of the best, who are going above and beyond.

“This help is vital and needed. I’m in awe of this young lady. I really am. She’s worthy of that Gold Award she received,” Janett George-Morris said.

George-Morris is a chaplain with America’s Gold Star Families. The families have experienced the loss of a loved one—an immediate family member—who died as a result of active-duty military service.

Bryant formed a nonprofit called Gold Star Kids Support Services. It provides funds to those families, so their children can continue to take part in the extracurricular activities they love, like marching band and gymnastics, which can be quite expensive.

The nonprofit has already raised more than $20,000 and has sponsored 15 children.

Not only are the Girl Scouts proud of Bryant’s work, but so is Kelly Clarkson.

On Wednesday, Bryant was featured on The Kelly Clarkson Show to tell the world about Gold Star Kids Support Services.

“I want to help people from California to New York. West Coast to East Coast. I’m hoping it can go nationwide,” Bryant said.

The U.S. Department of Defense has officially recognized Leighanne’s nonprofit as a resource to help Gold Star families.

To learn more about Gold Star Kids Support Services, click here.

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