Happy New Year! As we enter 2018, we have the opportunity to reflect on our lives and step into the new year, knowing that we can make a difference. Your continued support and involvement in Girl Scouts is helping to shape a stronger community and a hopeful future.
January 2018
Happy New Year!
As we enter 2018, we have the opportunity to reflect on our lives and step into the new year, knowing that we can make a difference. Your continued support and involvement in Girl Scouts is helping to shape a stronger community and a hopeful future.
Why is Girl Scouts more important now than ever before?
We provide a safe, inclusive, all-girl space where girls can learn, grow, and form values that empower them to make healthy decisions, live productive lives, and become leaders of strong character.
A foundational component of Girl Scouts is that we live by the tenets of our Promise and Law, including being responsible for what we say and do. This is an important principle in an age where careless words fly unchecked on social media. In Girl Scouts, girls learn to take a stand and do what’s right, regardless of what their peers may do.
Every Girl Scout experience develops girls as capable leaders. From STEM workshops to the Gold Award (the highest achievement in Girl Scouts), girls step out of their comfort zones and learn to navigate challenges preparing them for their futures. We are launching an exciting new program, Building Bridges, which helps to open generational boundaries by connecting girls with senior citizens. (Read on for details.) Through the cookie program, which begins on January 28, Girl Scouts learn important life skills like money management and business ethics. At camp (registration
starts Feb. 1), girls discover how to care for the environment, solve problems collaboratively and forge healthy relationships.
Through our alliance of supporters, volunteers, staff, community organizations, and businesses, Girl Scouts continues to provide relevant programs for more than 23,000 girls. I invite you to join me in spreading the word about the critical role of Girl Scouts — the world’s best leadership organization for girls, so that we can reach more girls and have greater impact now and into the future.
Yours in Girl Scouting,
Carol M. Dedrich, MBA, CFRE Chief Executive Officer
Members of Junior Troop 1328 look forward to earning the Building Bridges patch.
Bridging across generations Our new “Building Bridges” patch program is fostering intergenerational friendships, connecting Girl Scouts of all ages with the older generation of our community. To earn the patch, troops visit with residents of a senior care or retirement facility, engaging in fun, get-acquainted activities like playing board games from different eras or chatting about how technology has changed over time. Girls can also participate in Story Corps
or help with Meals on Wheels. Watch for details about an opportunity to work on the patch in a multi-troop setting during a Building Bridges workshop on Saturday, April 21 at a senior living community.
Girl Scouting gives troop leader Isabel opportunities to spend more quality time with her daughter Sofia.
Volunteer spotlight: Isabel Rodriguez During a recent orientation for new Girl Scout families, Isabel Rodriguez shared why she absolutely loves leading her daughter Sofia’s Brownie troop. Benefits include carving out quality parent-child time and having the flexibility to work around your own schedule. Another important plus, Isabel offered, is that family members are often inspired by seeing their Girl Scout taking action to make the world a better place, inspiring them to follow suit.
Isabel stepped into the troop leadership role when Sofia was in kindergarten. The pair relishes making lasting memories together and with the other 19 members of Daisy-Brownie Troop 4487. Next up on their agenda is the cookie program, which Isabel deems as key to Girl Scouting. “We fund a lot with cookie money: everything from science experiments and multi-troop camping trips to service projects and events with ‘be good to the Earth’ take-action activities.” Recently, they did a collection drive for Houston hurricane victims, and are planning another for people affected by hurricane damage in Puerto Rico.
Local cookie pros are national stars When we roll out the 2018 cookie program, get ready to see some familiar faces! Our cookie baker invited some of our amazing G.I.R.L.s (go-getters, innovators, risk-takers and leaders) to appear in its marketing campaign. San Diego Girl Scouts (including Victoria; see next story) will be prominently featured in videos, order cards, websites and sales materials nationwide.
Girl Scouts start going door-to-door on Sunday morning, Jan. 28, with wagon-loads of America’s favorite confection. Through the Girl Scout Cookie Program, young entrepreneurs develop essential skills — goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics — as they soar in confidence and leadership abilities. All proceeds stay in San Diego to fund troop adventures, activities and community service projects, and make programs like camp and STEM affordable. Thank you to all who make the cookie program possible!
Cookies fund Puerto Rico adventure Victoria, a member Troop 6456, is among local Girl Scouts featured in our baker’s 2018 marketing materials. She funded a once-in-a-lifetime Girl Scouts Destinations trip with cookie earnings. Last year, Victoria traveled to Costa Rica with other Girl Scouts to learn to scuba dive and help save and protect sea turtles and other marine animals. During the excursion, Victoria discovered she had a passion for conservation work. She encourages other girls to seek out new interests through Girl Scouting.
“There are tons of opportunities out there,” Victoria says. “All you have to do is look! And Girl Scout Cookies can take you there!”
