"Every girl has the ability to lead. But only one in five girls believes she can. As a Girl Scout volunteer, you'll introduce girls to new experiences that show them they're capable of more than they ever imagined."
After this Friday, your girls be receiving an additional email from me detailing the rest of our kickoff meetings for the girls this summer. This Friday's meeting is still at 5:30 in the cafeteria at Thatcher Brook Primary School, but our plan for the evening has changed a bit. This meeting will primarily focus on the adults and information, rather than activities for the girls. Your girls are welcome to come and I will have a few brief activities prepared for them, but having a meeting split between the girls and adults won't be able to happen this Friday. I'm looking forward to meeting all of you!
So, the rest of this email is for and about you...
Basic Information about the Troop:
- Our troop number is 30228 and we're based in Waterbury and will accept any girl or adult who is able to travel to our meetings!
- We are within Community 245, which serves the Stowe, Waterbury, Duxbury, Moretown, Middlesex, Fayston, Waitsfield, Warren, Berlin, Barre City & Town, Williamstown, Washington, Chelsea, Vershire, Corinth, Topsham, Orange, Plainfield, Marshfield, Montpelier, E. Montpelier, Calais, Worcester
- We are in District 510, which serves two Communities in Vermont.
- There are 51 Districts in our Council.
- We are within the Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains Council, which serves Vermont and New Hampshire.
- There are over 100 Councils in the United States' Girl Scouts organization.
- There are 145 countries that are part of the Worldwide Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGS).
Adults at the Meetings:At least at the beginning of our year, we are expecting adults to stay with their girls. This is for a few reasons:
-it helps the girls acclimate to the environment, new girls, and new adults
-it makes communication with adults a bit easier, especially as we make decisions together
-it helps adults understand Girl Scouts and provides and opportunity to be involved in the girls' success
Adult Involvement:Adults can stay with the girls without being Girl Scouts themselves, but our hope is that adults will register and take steps to become "official" volunteers. This includes drivers, "behind-the scenes" helpers, folks who want to help with cookies, as well as folks who can facilitate activities, go camping with the girls, or help lead the troop. Basically, don't be intimidated by the steps - we need your help and for you to be a part of the troop (see the end of the email for steps).
Currently, Candy Hammacher and I are the troop leaders since we needed 2 people for purposes of starting a troop bank account and meetings where there need to be 2 registered Girl Scout adults. However, Candy will be stepping out of the troop role so that she can support our larger Girl Scout community. So, I would like to talk with you about the responsibilities of a co-leader at our first meeting.
Since we are starting off with no money, we'd like to ask you to think of community members or organizations that might donate money, services or supplies. We have a straightforward process of documenting their donation so that it's tax-deductible.
Similarly, if you can connect the troop with adults that can be a great resource for facilitating our activities, please let me know! In past years, I've had parents who provided flatbeds for parades, art supplies for an artwork badge, access to a museum because a parent worked there, swimming at a college pool because a sibling was a student, visits to Community Action or Senior Centers, etc. If you are passionate about a topic or event, let's include it in our plan for the year! For example, I feel really strongly about Girls on the Run, but girls can only join the school program when they're in 3rd grade. However, girls and adults of any age can sign up for the 5K and it's a really powerful experience. So, this would be an event I'd like to see us participate in as a K-5 troop!
As with any organization, the money for the troop primarily comes from fundraising. Honestly, I wish there were another way, but the girls love selling cookies in the spring! There is also a fall fundraiser which will be really important for our troop this year. It's the biggest bang for our buck; our troop gets $1-2 dollars for every item sold. It gives us a great start on the year and allows us to do activities without asking you for money to do them. I know fall fundraising seems to be requested by every organization out there, but please consider the impact it will have on financially supporting our fledgling troop!
Registration:
During our first year, we expect girls and adults to pay for registration. However, in the past troops I've led, our proceeds from sales and fundraising have helped us to re-register every girl and adult for the next year, whether they were planning to stay with the troop or not.
If you choose to register before June 30th, there is a special patch that will be mailed to you! You don't need to wait for our meetings to register, just make sure you indicate that you're joining troop 30228: http://girlscoutsgwm.org/join
Just to reduce any confusion when you do register (yourself or your girl), you should be registering for the 2015-2016 year. That year doesn't officially start until October 1, so I will be purchasing Girl Scout insurance that allows us to have non-Girl Scouts at any events up until that date...which is basically everyone! :) It just didn't seem to make sense to have you register for the current year (2014-2015) and have to pay double. Girl registration is $30 and adult registration is $15. The levels in Girl Scouts are specific to the grade of your girl on Oct 1.
They are:
They are:
- K&1st grade = Daisies
- 2 & 3 = Brownies
- 4 & 5 = Juniors
Regular Troop Meetings in the Fall:
I work full-time in Burlington and probably have the same crazy kid-activity schedule that you do! So, my plan for troop meetings is no more than 2 times a month, and probably on weekends (I'm not able to do after school). As adults, we'll make the decision of when we'll meet for the rest of the year so that it meets our collective needs. I fully expect that we'll have more impromptu outings, particularly for seasonal events (like going to a sugarhouse in the spring or an apple orchard in the fall), but we'll figure these out closer to the time of the event.
Costs:
Other than registering, no other money is required. Girl Scouts is intended to be financially-accessible, so all of the below are optional.
- Dues: The girls will decide how much they want their meeting dues to be, and they should be responsible for collecting that money (as part of their growth around financial responsibility). Typically, girls have suggested about $4 a meeting, so we'll see what they come up with.
- Uniforms: You're welcome to buy as much or as little of the below as you would like. The basics are:
- Sash or vest
- Troop numbers (30228)
- Girl Scout Council Identification
- Insignia tab
- Don't buy anything else (like the membership star/disk set, the World Trefoil pin, or the Girl Scout membership pin) since we will be having investiture ceremonies or World Thinking Day activities when they get these. The membership star is given out at the end of the year to mark their number of years at that level. All other badges and recognitions will be bought with troop money and provided when the girls complete the requirements for them.
- Here's the website to show you the placement of items on the uniform: http://www.girlscouts.org/
program/basics/for_volunteers/ where_to_place/. You can order online or go with your girl to the shop in Williston: http://girlscoutsgwm.org/ general/page/williston-vt- service-center-store. - Books: As a troop, we will be working on the badges and recognitions that are in the Girls' Guide to Girl Scouting. They are different by level, so make sure you get the one that matches your girl's grade level in October. (This is a replacement for the Girl Scout Badge Book or Handbook if you remember those!) Again, the girls can survive without these, but they seem to like them a lot and they also serve as a journal for the girls' progress in Girl Scouts. When we meet with the girls, they will decide which badges seem the most interesting. The goal is to complete 1 badge a month, and perhaps even 1 per meeting.
- Journeys: If you were in Girl Scouts as a kid, these weren't around! There are 3 different themes for each level, and they're basically like storybooks with embedded learning and activities. Girls can earn Journey patches when they complete each of the 3 Journeys. If they complete all 3, they are eligible for the "Summit" pin. We will discuss the Journeys with the girls, but we are expecting parents to read with the girls and work on the activities at home. It makes for good summer reading and writing to keep the girls in practice! When we meet with the girls, they will decide which Journey to start with.
- Badges & recognitions: You and your girl are welcome to work on any badge, pin, or recognition that she has interest in. Just check to see what the troop has planned so that you don't duplicate efforts. As long as we have the financial resources, the troop will buy these and present them to your girl (along with you!) at troop recognition ceremonies. An example of this might be the My Promise, My Faith pins; it's a personal topic and choice for girls and their families instead of a troop opportunity.
- Fun patches: These go on the back of the uniform because they aren't official insignia. They are a great way to commemorate activities we do as a troop or that your girl might receive by participating in a council-sponsored activity. Our daughters went to an overnight at the Montshire Museum that was sponsored by our Girl Scout council and got a patch for the back of their uniform.
- Council-sponsored events: These can be a great opportunity to meet other girls and adults from around Vermont and New Hampshire. We participate in some as a troop, and you can go with your girl(s) even if the troop is not.
Ongoing Communication:
I am working on a blog that will be our main source of communication, and you can go there for updates or go to the site and request that all the postings come to your email. It's not very pretty yet, but here's the address: girlscouts30228.blogspot.com
For communications of a last-minute nature, I'll be using Call-Em-All, which is a "robodialer" and should come from my number (498-3947).
Thank You!
I'm excited to have so much interest in our area and so many of you who have already asked how you can help. If you're not able to come to this meeting and know your girl wants to participate, go ahead and register her. Everyone is invited to all of the subsequent meetings (which will be more girl-focused) on 7/18 from 10-11a or 8/29 from 10-11a. If you're not sure if your girl wants to sign up, come with her to one of these meetings to "try it out"!
See you tomorrow!
---------
Here is information on how to get involved as a volunteer:
- Find out more about volunteering with the troop: http://girlscoutsgwm.org/
volunteer - Apply to work with the girls: http://girlscoutsgwm.org/
general/webform/online- volunteer-application - Complete Girl Scouting 101 online: http://training.girlscouts.
org/default.asp
