Troop 4223 Recycles to Help Girls Become Girl Scouts

Girl Scout Daisy Troop 4223 collected and redeemed recyclables throughout the school year, then donated the $150 earned to Girl Scout’s Family Partnership Campaign. Their efforts and funding paid for 10 girls' membership fees through their troop donation to the Family Partnership Campaign. In addition to providing an opportunity to discuss using resources wisely and helping the planet by recycling, this effort tied-in nicely with their first grade lessons about the value of money.

Troop 4223 will continue this recycling project annually. To expand the program, the troop plans to collect recyclables at large school functions. The girls will post signs at special collection bins throughout each venue. They will also encourage the community to give their recycling to the troop, so they can recycle those goods and earn more money for the end of year donation.

Troop Leader Lisa Pryor said, “I am proud of the girls and all they've been able to accomplish. The recycling project has been packed with valuable lessons, and the troop is thrilled knowing their efforts are helping other girls become Girl Scouts.”

Financial assistance through the Family Partnership Campaign guarantees that no girl is ever denied the Girl Scout Leadership Experience because of the inability to pay. By offering financial assistance, more girls become Girl Scouts which gives them the opportunity to develop leadership skills, discover personal interests, and make life-long friendships.

For more information or to make a donation, please visit the GSHCC website. 

Congratulations to our Buy 5 Drawing Winners!

Two years ago, Girl Scouts Heart of Central California started a “Buy 5 Drawing” during cookie season. How does the drawing work? For every five packages purchased, customers can enter to win Girl Scout Cookies for a year – that’s 12 cases of cookies, totaling 144 packages of their favorite varieties. Awesome, right!?

Last year, there was only one council winner. This year we chose two winners – a winner from the council’s northern region and one from the southern region. Check out the deliveries to the winners…

Buy 5 Winner Matt S. of Antelope receiving his cookies from
Girl Scout Brownies in Troop 16 and Troop Leader Stephanie Emerson.

Buy 5 Winner John S. of Lodi receiving his cookies from
Kyra in Troop 1133.

Congratulations to this year’s winners, and thank you to everyone who entered into the drawing. Stay tuned for the upcoming cookie season… you could be the next Buy 5 Drawing winner!

Troop’s Mission to Spread Anti-Bullying Message

Sister Girl Scout, Ariel, struggled with the effects of bullying. As a result, she and her troop stood up. They stood strong. It’s now their mission to spread an anti-bullying message as they also work to earn their Girl Scout Silver Award.

Troop 170 spent the last year planning a free event called "We R 1" in Patterson that involved community organizations, information about bullying, as well as some fun and games. The event proved to be a huge success with more than 100 people in attendance. It didn’t stop there. The troop was invited to present their anti-bullying campaign at more events as well as address the local City Council. Ariel gave a speech about her experience at both the community event and for City Council. Attendees were moved, and many even brought to tears.

Troop Leader Angela Kraft said, “The girls have done a tremendous job. I am proud of all of their efforts and look forward to seeing their campaign continue.”

Congratulations to Troop 170 for making a positive impact in the community!

Girl Scout Junior Troop 845 “Caches in, Trashes Out”

Hey troop leader's for Girl Scout Junior troops: Have the girls earned their Geocacher badge yet? Here’s how one troop combined a Take Action project with their favorite pastime—geocaching!

Cache In Trash Out  (CITO) is an ongoing environmental initiative supported by the worldwide geocaching community. Since 2002, geocachers around the world have been dedicated to improving parks and other cache-friendly places.

Geocaching is an activity that involves the out-of-doors and technology. “Caches” or containers with  tracker logs are hidden at GPS coordinates and others try to find them for sport. At each cache, trackers can log that they found the cache and sometimes they trade swag—little trinkets left behind.
Girl Scout Junior Troop 845 has been geocaching for a few years and has attended other CITO events. When they noticed trash along a local bike path and creek, they decided to plan one in their own town.
Guided by their troop leader, Roger, who has organized CITO events in the past, the girls did all the planning and talked with the park and recreation department to organize the event, which they called “Girl Scouts Giving Back.” With their leader’s help, they were able to post the event on the geocaching website to invite the public. On March 3, more than 100 geocachers and Girl Scouts attended the event—one person even drove in from San Jose, another Girl Scout troop came from Novato. Great job, girls!

Want to be adventurers too? The Geocacher badge is in the The Junior Girl’s Guide to Girl Scouting. Geocaching tools are available for purchase at The GS Shop in Sacramento and Salida. 

GOT MILK? ®-Girl Scouts Photo Contest Finalists

The finalists of the statewide GOT MILK? ®-Girl Scouts Photo Contest have been chosen!

Girls from GSHCC submitted their photos with captions answering the prompt: How have Girl Scouts and milk helped me become strong, healthy and confident?

Here are the three finalists from GSHCC. Each received a $350 camp scholarship, funded by the California Milk Processor Board.

Elyssa G: “How have Girl Scouts and milk helped me become strong, healthy and confident? By providing me strength to achieve new heights!”

 

Julianna L: “Girl Scouts are confident and milk is healthy!”

 

Anna R: "Milk feeds my body, Girl Scouts feeds my soul."

 

Everyone who knows me knows that I love change. I think sometimes it is a curse but life is always interesting and, hey—changing. I should have started this blog when I started at Girl Scouts but it seems fitting to start it at the end and work backwards.

I leave an organization I love – one that helped me as a girl and that still inspires me today. I have been able to accomplish so much with the help and support of a lot of people. We have a new Program Center, new office in Modesto, and best of all an almost new Camp Menzies. If you believe things can happen – they do. All of these steps, supported by generous donors, have resulted in a refreshed look and feel for GSHCC. While we have consistently remained committed to one mission—to build girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place—we have made it a priority to remain innovative and relevant. And this is reflected in our new Program Center. Our digs are very industrial and cool; we just look like a place where amazing girls would want to go.

One of the nice things about retiring is the kind words from many of the volunteer. I guess I was a breath of fresh air when I arrived and I of course didn’t know that until now. I remember driving around in a golf cart at camp and just yelling to the heavens, “I love my job!” Who wouldn’t after leaving a 25-year career in the insurance industry?

-Pam Saltenberger

Roseville Older Girl Lounge gets crafty at Anthropologie

Hear&Now staff and MarComm interns Riley and Gianna recently joined up with 16 girls from the Older Girl Lounge in Roseville to learn more about Anthopologie’s artistic side. At the event, they discovered that many employees have art degrees and both conceptualize and hand-make all of the displays throughout the store. Here’s Riley’s recap:

On Sunday, Sept. 9, Gianna and I went to Anthropologie in Roseville for an older girl outing. We learned about the crafty side of clothes! Not only does Anthropologie sell adorable clothes, and house ware, but they do so many DIY (Do It Yourself) projects for their different displays in the store! While we were there we got to paint tree logs for a new window display that Anthropologie is putting up soon. Also, we looked at all their displays, and different areas of the store, and saw how they made each one themselves. One of the displays was a paperclip piece of art, and they linked 40,000 paperclips together to make it! Wow! My favorite display was the one behind the cash register, where an artist outlined a city scape in pencil and then hammered in nails over her drawing. After, she hung string across all the nails to create a beautiful picture behind the counter. Gianna’s favorite was a chandelier made out of dyed mop heads! The artist at Anthropologie who dyed the mop heads had green hands for days when she was done! All in all, Gianna and I had such a fun time, learning, playing, painting and meeting girls from different troops during this amazing Older Girl Lounge event.

The Older Girl Lounge in the Sierra Creek and Sierra Rose service units brings together Girl Scout Cadettes, Seniors and Ambassadors (grades 6-12) for unique and fun events. Girls can sign up for events with their troops or individually. Older Girl Scouts and their parents can contact Lounge organizer and troop leader Beth Martin to find out about upcoming programs: bnrmartin@surewest.net.