Girls Scouts: More than Just Cookies!

Girl Scouts : More than Just Cookies!

We all look forward to Girl Scout Cookie Season! Thin Mints and Samoas are my personal favorites!

But they really offer so much more to the community than just cookies!

I spoke with Erica Douglas at the Girl Scouts of Central Illinois office, and was blown away for all that the Girl Scouts do not just for the girls but for the whole community!

Girl Scouts of the USA was founded on March 12, 2012 in Savannah Georgia by Juliette Gordon. Nearly 100 years later they are still going strong and are continuing to spread their mission, ‘Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place’, not just in America, but all over the world!

The Girl Scouts really strive to empower the girls! They want to give them confidence and skills to better themselves and better their community! It is a non-profit organization that really focuses on outreach and making every girl feel welcome, and included, and like she can make a difference in the world!

No Girl who wants to participate in Girl Scouts is turned away! They really strive to be versatile so that even girls who want to participate, but may not have the time to commit to regular activities such as troops can still participate and belong!

There are six pathways to be involved in girl scouts: Girl Scout Troops are the most common. Girls in grades K-12 can be involved in a Girl Scout troop. There are currently 60 Girl Scout troops in Adams County, serving approximately 840 girls, with approximately 220 adult volunteers! Troops really work with the girls in their group to find projects and activities that fit with the girls in their troops! Aside from building friendships and building social skills, girls learn about the arts, the outdoors, leadership development skills, as well as really get involved with their community with different projects! Each troop generally participates in at least three community service projects a year. They almost always help with baby bundle kits for new moms, disaster relief comfort kits for the Red Cross disaster victims, and with a city wide clean up, and many troops do even more community service projects on their own!

In addition to Girl Scout Troops, girls can get involved by going to one of the Girl Scout camps, which gives the girls a lot of hands-on activities outdoors in a fun girl setting. Girl Scouts also sponsors a lot of individual events throughout the year that highlight special topics like fine arts, science, technology, engineering math, healthy living and community service. Girls can also get involved with different learning opportunities through traveling with the girl scouts. They plan one major travel opportunity per year, and every 4 years the girl scouts have the opportunity to travel to Europe! Girl Scouts also offers outreach possibilities in the community! They are currently partnering with the YMCA to offer a girls night out for girls grades 5^th -8^th to have fun and learn about relevant topics ranging from career opportunities to healthy body images. They are also offering a 6 week program at Baldwin School called “Take Charge” an anti-bully program. In the next couple of years Girl Scouts will even have virtual ways to get involved! They offer interactive programs in a safe, secure, online environment for girls on the go who find this the easiest way to get involved!

Girls can earn badges and help grow their self confidence and skill level! They can even earn a Gold Award, which is the Equivalent to an Eagle Scout in Boy Scouts. Girls that receive this award are far more likely to receive college scholarships and will automatically receive an advancement in rank if they join the military!

But the Girl Scout needs your help to be able to offer all of these programs to girls in YOUR community! No girl is ever turned away from becoming a girl scout, regardless of their financial situation! 1 in 3 girl scouts actually receive financial assistance to be a girl scout! Financial aid that the girl scouts receive goes to help pay their annual tuition, badges, programs for the girl scouts, camps, staff, leadership training etc.

How can you get involved with helping out the Girl Scouts? The tastiest way is buying cookies! Cookie season runs from January to April, and it is not too late to get some! If you didn’t get around to ordering any cookies this year, it is not too late to get some! You can visit the girl scouts of Central Illinois’s website and find a cookie booth locator for when and where girl scouts will be selling. Stock up now! They freeze great so you can enjoy them all year long, and they make great presents too! And remember, each cookie purchase helps the girl scouts provide programs to every girl, regardless of their financial situation!

You can also call the Girl Scout office or make donations online; they have more merchandise than just cookies on their website as well! In addition to helping out the girl scouts monetarily, they are always looking for volunteers to help both with the Girl Scout troops and the various outreach and events that they host through out the year, including the community service projects that help out everyone in your community!

Looking for a way to get your daughter or a girl in your community to get involved in girl scouts, but not quite sure how to do it? Visit their website at http://www.girlscouts-gsci.org/ or call their local office at 217-222-1030. You can also find out how to donate or get involved, as well as cookie sales there. Support the girl scouts today, help empower them and your community!

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