Are you doing everything possible for girls to have a quality Girl Scout experience? Use the points listed below to serve as a quality checker to assist you as you strive to move from providing girls with a good to a great Girl Scout program.

Get the Scoop on Traveling Troops

Girl Scout Week

It's Cookie Time!

Managing Troop Funds

Troop Camping

It�s Cookie Time!

Are you and your girls prepared to have a fun, safe and brilliant Girl Scout Cookie Sale? A key step of preparation is to make sure you and all your girls are registered for the 2005-2006 Membership Year, which began October 1. It is not too late to get those girl and adult registrations turned in.

Although fun is included as a benefit with the Girl Scout membership, it also provides safety with the insurance coverage that is included. So dot all your i�s and cross all your t�s as we set out to help our girls develop important skills such as decision making, planning, goal setting, teamwork, leadership and money management.

So don�t delay! Get those remaining membership forms in so your girls will have one necessary ingredient for SUCCESS!

Managing Troop Funds

Girl Scout troops are financed by dues, money earning activities, and a share of money earned through council sponsored product sales. Follow these guidelines as you share the responsibility of managing the funds collected with the girls of the troop.

Develop an understanding: Help girls and parents understand that money in the troop treasury is not the property of individual girls and/or adults in the troop. Any money given to or earned by the troop is to be used by the girls to support the troop�s activities.

Allow the girls to take an active part: Girls at all age levels except Daisy Girl Scouts can engage in troop budgeting and money management activities. The troop can determine the amount of dues to be collected, who will collect them, and where the money will be kept. Girls can go with you to the bank to deposit or withdraw troop funds. They can compare costs through newspaper advertisements or fliers before purchasing items and supplies.

Open a bank account: If your troop acquires $100 or more in its troop treasury, the funds should be deposited into a troop account in an accredited financial institution (See Council Guide, Financial Policies/ Standards). Once the account is opened, the troop must have a Location of Funds card on file with the council.

Maintain good records: Record all financial activities and make sure all calculations are accurate. This task can be made easier by saving all invoices and sale receipts for expenses and income. This way you will have documentation of any transactions made.

Help the girls decide: Decisions on how to spend money should be made by the girls in the troop. As a Girl Scout leader and partner in planning, you can offer girls suggestions for troop spending. The troop can plan and make decisions together deciding which activities to participate in and which to postpone.

Everyday adults make decisions about how to spend money. Girls should also be taught how to make positive money management decisions; and what you, as an adult leader in Girl Scouting, teach girls about money management can have an impact on their financial habits throughout their lives.

Troop Camping

The winterized lodges at our council�s four campsites still have weekends available through March. For a less rustic experience that is closer to home, consider staying at the Girl Scout Program/Training Center.

From April through May, Girl Scout Kamp Kiwani has mostly been reserved for camporees. However, our other four council properties have weekends available for troop camping. Remember Girl Scout Camp Annemeekee is air-conditioned, and the Girl Scout Program/Training Center offers heat and air.

Sites may be reserved up to four months before the intended trip. To get the best choice of dates, reserve your site as soon as allowed. Contact Janet Stone-Wade at the Girl Scout Service Center to get more information about a particular site. A site is not reserved until the site fee has been paid.

You can request a Campsite Host, volunteers who are willing to meet you as you arrive, especially if you are unfamiliar with the site. Just check the appropriate box on the Site Reservation Request form if you would like to take advantage of this service.

While your troop/group is at camp, how about doing a service project for our sites? We have several projects that troops/groups can do. If your troop is interested in a service project while camping or just for a day only project, please call Mary McHugh at the Girl Scout Service Center.

Get the Scoop on Traveling Troops

Many troops enjoy taking trips as their culminating activity for the Girl Scout year. Girl Scouts have traveled to the Pink Palace Museum to catch an I-Max movie; Camp Fisherville for a grand cookout and overnight stay; Six Flags to experience the thrilling and chilling rides, or even Walt Disney World for all of its beauty and magic.

However, most girls never stop to think whether they are emotionally, physically, mentally, or socially mature enough to go to these places. They just want to hop on the next plane, train, or automobile that will get them there. As a troop leader, the real question is what factors do you consider when helping your girls plan trips? Or more importantly, what type of trip is your troop ready to try?

As girls progress through the different age levels in Girl Scouting, their trip taking experiences, skills, and abilities should also grow and progress. Chapter 5 of Safety-Wise points out that there are six different types of trips: meeting time, day, simple overnight, extended overnight, wider opportunities and international.

By using Safety-Wise, the guidelines below and your knowledge of the girls� abilities and past experiences, you can help the troop define the type of trip they are ready to experience.

Daisy Girl Scouts should start out with meeting time trips to points of interest in the neighborhood like a nearby garden or local firehouse.

Brownie Girl Scouts may engage in day trips or day time excursions away from the group meeting place and outside the regular meeting time.

Junior Girl Scouts may indulge in simple overnight trips that can involve one or two nights away.

Teen Girl Scouts age 11 and up can participate in extended overnight trips that range from three nights or more away. They may also participate in wider opportunities, which are experiences that take place outside the troop on a neighborhood, council, state, national, or international level. Girls who successfully take overnight trips may eventually progress to trips of greater distances internationally.

In planning to travel with your troop, some of the questions that should be considered are:

• Do the girls show interest in new and different things?

• Are they comfortable with you as a "parent substitute?"

• Can they follow and live with rules?

• Are they respectful to themselves and others?

• Can they get along with others in a situation where privacy is lacking?

• Can they stay away from home for the length of the trip?

• Will they need to call home each night?

• Can they handle being homesick?

Learning how to plan a trip is a progressive experience for a Girl Scout, one that starts with a simple outing. As the girls begin to understand the planning process, they can progress to longer trips.

Girl Scout Week

We celebrate the birthday of Girl Scouting during Girl Scout Week. In 2006 it begins with Girl Scout Sunday on March 12 and ends with Girl Scout Sabbath on March 18. There are a variety of ways your girls can celebrate and showcase Girl Scouts in your communities: throw a birthday party and bring gifts to give to charity, wear your Girl Scout pins, uniforms or sash, plant a tree, attend church as a troop on Girl Scout Sabbath or Sunday, etc.

Let�s do our part in showing our appreciation to Juliette Gordon Low who followed her own dreams 94 years ago and established an organization where girls from every walk of life have the opportunity to make their dreams come true.

Juliette Low World Friendship Fund

The Juliette Low World Friendship Fund was started in 1929, two years after Juliette Low�s death. The fund was started in her honor and in support of her vision of worldwide friendship. The funds are used to foster international understanding and friendship. These funds make it possible for Girl Scouts and Girl Guides to travel to other countries. The funds may also be used to support international relief efforts such as victims of the tsunami in south east Asia, the mud slides in Mexico and the earthquake in Pakistan and India. Educational programs, such as the Adolescent Health Issues Initiative, are supported by this fund.

Girls often make contributions to this fund on October 31, Juliette Low�s birthday, World Thinking Day, February 22 or on the Girl Scout Birthday on March 12. Contributions to the Juliette Low World Friendship Fund should be sent to Girl Scout Council of the Mid-South with a note on the troop check indicating it is for this fund.

For more information, check out the "Who We Are" section of www.girlscouts.org.

World Thinking Day

Each year on February 22, Girl Guides and Girl Scouts all over the world celebrate World Thinking Day. This is a special day when Girl Scouts and Girl Guides all around the world think of each other and give thanks and appreciation to their "sister" Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.

The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) carried out its first ever global survey earlier this year on adolescent health. More than 6,000 respondents from 100 countries participated in the survey, answering questions on a range of topics related to health. Through their answers, seven key messages emerged.

Girls worldwide say:

• fight AIDS

• make healthy food choices

• prevent adolescent pregnancy

• it is important to talk about sex

• let�s talk about the danger of drugs

• ban smoking in public places

• discover your potential

World Thinking Day 2006 focuses our attention on these messages, so that girls worldwide can raise funds and raise awareness about one or more of these issues in their communities. Some issues might be more relevant than others in certain communities.

WAGGGS would like your help in raising $350,000 so girls worldwide can.....

think about, talk about and do something about

adolescent health issues.

These issues are important to girls and young women everywhere.

You can visit the web site, www.wagggs.org, to find resources and activities to help you prepare for and celebrate World Thinking Day. Troops may also make a contribution to the effort by making a contribution to the Juliette Low World Friendship Fund.

(return to top)