Help GSOSW hold a screening of "Girl Rising," a documentary about the power of education to change a girl's life.

Girl Scouts of Oregon and SW Washington would like to host a screening of the documentary Girl Rising in Portland on May 21. This documentary follows the stories of several girls around the world and demonstrates the power of education to change a girl--and the world. You can see more about the film here: http://girlrising.com/.

In order to bring this screening to Portland, we need 100 people to reserve tickets by May 6. This screening is open to the public, and we encourage you to invite your friends, family, neighbors and more.

Here are the official details:

Date: Tuesday, May 21

Time: 7:30 PM (running time approximately 100 minutes)
Rating: PG-13

Location: Fox Tower Stadium 10, 846 SW Park Ave. Portland (downtown)

Price: $10/ticket

To reserve your tickets, follow this link: http://gathr.us/screening/3458. You need to use your credit card to reserve your seats, but your card WILL NOT be charged until/if we reach the 100 person minimum. We need to have 100 reservations by May 6 for this screening to happen. Spread the word and join us for this exciting opportunity!

Introducing 60-Second Seminars!

Girl Scouts OSW is proud to unveil a new video feature, 60-Second Seminars! In these videos, our aim  each month will be to answer questions and clarify things that we get asked frequently.  Here's our first video feature, showing where you can find information about our great day camps across Oregon and Southwest Washington!

Do you have a question you'd like to have explained in a 60-Second Seminar? We would love to hear your suggestions! Email Sarah Miller at smiller@girlscoutsosw.org to submit your ideas.

"Bring a Friend" Meeting Doubles Troop Size

Thanks to Brandy Slack, of Troop 45028 in SU 16, for this post! 

Troop 45028 began as a brand new troop last fall. We started out with only six girls – grades 4 and 5. We have been working on our Journey award badges. Since we're still such a new troop, we're trying to get the troop to run smoothly since next year we will be a blended troop.

Since I joined the SU team by becoming the new membership coordinator, I started thinking of ways that I could help get more girls signed up with Girl Scouts. I thought the best way to do this and also make our troop grow, was to have the girls invite their friends to join. The only thing better than doing something you like is doing it with your friends!

I made the suggestion to the troop, and of course the girls were more than ready to invite their friends! Each girl made invitations, and the girls planned the date and what we would do at the meeting, along with their parents. Most girls had at least one friend they want to invite, but some (like my daughter) had more than one  friend they wanted to invite.

For our invitation, I had a picture of four girls on my computer from the Juliette skating party back in October. I used a website called Smilebox that had cards that you could print up, email, put on DVD, etc. I picked a card and added the picture of the girls* to it. Then I personalized the card to the information I wanted it to say, and printed it on photo paper. My daughter Brynne and I went to Michael's craft store for background paper and some Girl Scout stickers to add to it (Michael's carries Girl Scout items)! We ended up sharing the photo invitation with several girls. Each of them personalized the cards for their own use.

Nine new girls showed up to our Bring a Friend Meeting. Troop members introduced themselves and the friends they brought at the beginning of the meeting, and said something they loved about being a Girl Scout. The troop recited the Girl Scout Promise and the Girl Scout Law. 

While one of the troop moms taught all the girls how to do a craft project, I talked to the parents that came to the meeting and gave them packets with information about our troop, what items were required to become a Girl Scout, the Girl Scout forms for both the girls and their moms in case they wanted to join.

On the day of invite, we had three new girls sign up. Three more girls signed up before our next meeting, two weeks later.  The girls who are new and in 5th grade share books with the original girls to help cut down on the cost of joining, since they will have to re-buy the next level books in the fall.

We will absolutely try this again! It was a great idea with little effort, but a huge pay off since six out of nine girls joined.

I believe the main reason more girls aren’t members already is because they either don't know that much about Girl Scouts, or they aren’t really sure they'd like it. Girls tend to enjoy something more if their friends are in it, too – which is why the bring a friend meeting was so successful.

If another troop wants to try this idea, I say GO FOR IT! A couple of tips to help make the meeting successful:

·        Watch out for cliques. Make sure girls have the opportunity to mingle and get to know one another so no one feels isolated or left out.

·        Let the girls decide what activities they want to do with their guests and let them design or decorate their own invitations. This will get the troop girls excited as well as the invited girls.

Friends will always talk to each other about what the troop does, the events they've participated in and how much fun they have with the other troop girls. There's no better advertising than that! 

*When using photos of members, please be sure to have appropriate photo permissions. You may use form #002 to obtain permission.

Local Girl Scout volunteer attends Our Chalet in Switzerland

Helen Storrow Seminar 2013
Young Women Leading for a Greener Future

By Rhianna Taniguchi

My first day at the 8th Annual Helen Storrow Seminar was spent snowshoing through Switzerland with international representatives from Sri Lanka and Canada. The seminar, hosted at Our Chalet from March 16-24th, is welcoming over 30 young women from around the world to discuss environmental issues and leadership development. Our Chalet is the first WAGGGS World Center and was founded over 80 years ago by an American Girl Scout, Ms. Helen Storrow. Anyone who questions Ms. Storrow's decision need only see the snow-laden mountains of Adelboden to sense the serentity that this magical place possesses. On the first night we ended with a tour of the historic building. We found secret compartments in some of the original furniture, learned the Center song, and ate traditional Swiss chocolate mousse. 

The second day was packed with personal development sessions and discussions about the current condition of our world. A part of the afternoon session had the participants talking about the current condition of our planet. Another part of the afternoon sesson had us talking about the impacts that weve noticed in regards to global warming and climate change. I decided to go for a run in the Swiss Alps and meditate in the snow in my free time and there was no sound but that of the wind and trees. That night was full of celebration, sparking apple cider, and snow cones fresh from the mountain!

Snow fell all of the third day and it was filled with outdoor activities such as sleding and hiking. We are being asked to develop action plans for our local community, region, or nation and are being provided with step-bz-step planning guides in order to effectively turn our visions into reality. The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts brought facilitators from evey region of the world and worked with the participants on defining issues, identifying obstacles, and creating action plans that utilize their specific learning styles and skills to create a better world.  

SU 66 Sponsors 8th Annual Party at Grace Manor

Special thanks to Joni Sanderson of SU 66 for the blog post and photos.

Service Unit 66 likes to encourage the girls to think of their community and their responsibility give back to those who may not be as fortunate.  

Just one of their annual projects includes Service Unit 66’s Grace Manor Nursing Home holiday giving party. December 8, 2012 became the 8th annual party sponsored by the Service Unit. Troops of all ages pick individual resident names from the nursing home’s list, each for whom they plan, purchase and make individualized Christmas presents after viewing the resident’s wish list. 

Then, on a Saturday in early December, all the girls come together to sing Christmas carols for the residents, and followed by a present opening party. The patients, many of who have limited incomes and little to no families find this annual event as a special time to connect with the girls.

Service Unit 8 honors our troops - the Girl Scout way!

Special thanks to Sharon Zhang of Girl Scout Troop 40933 for this blog post.

Last year our school’s principal, a former lieutenant colonel in the army reserve, was called back to active duty in Afghanistan. When he broke the news to us at an assembly, the entire school felt the weight of the message, and everyone held immense respect for his sacrifice. Our principal made a large impact on countless people as a single person, so it is overwhelming to imagine the huge effect that every person in the troops have made on our country by putting their lives in danger for our safety.

To show our gratitude for the sacrifices our servicemen make, five years ago Girl Scout Troop 40933 was introduced to the 142nd Fighter Wing by Trent Hansen, a local guardsman, as our initial contact. The troop began donating boxes of Girl Scout cookies to the  Fighter Wing through the Gift of Caring program, which customers can choose to donate to when approached by Girl Scouts selling cookies.

This year, all the Gift of Caring donations collected in Service Unit 8 will go to Oregon’s 142nd Fighter Wing, and other areas of the military. The fighter wing “guards the western skies from southern Alaska to northern California…in case of any threat to our part of the U.S.,” according to Family Program Director Mary Bell, who takes care of the families of the guard members in addition to collaborating with Girl Scout Service Unit 8 for Gift of Caring cookies. In previous years, providing cookies to the fighter wing has been incredibly successful for Troop 40933 and a few sister troops. Last year, the Girl Scout troops who donated cookies to the 142nd provided about 60 cases (roughly 720 boxes of cookies), with as many as 84 cases in previous years. With the aid of additional Girl Scout troops in Service Unit 8 who will be contributing this year, we hope to donate even more to thank and support our guardsmen.

And do the guardsmen love the Girl Scout cookies! “Our guard members are now to the point that they ask when [the cookies] will be coming. It’s a big event when I get them,” explains Bell. “Girl Scout cookies are like warm hugs – they always bring smiles and then people ask if their favorite cookies are amongst the donated ones…I never have any leftovers. We send some over to [the deployed] wherever they are in the world and some we share with other branches of service who don't get a supply like I get. I put the cookies out all over the base for morale building and our people love them.” As a Girl Scout, seeing how many boxes of cookies are given to the fighter wing each year feels amazing, because I know that each and every box is a symbol of our gratitude to the servicemen and servicewomen for everything they have done.

With the support of customers to our Girl Scouts, this year the entire North Beaverton Service Unit 8 aims to continue donating cookies to the troops as a small but significant token of thanks, because our country is indebted to the undying loyalty and bravery of these men and women.

To support Girl Scouts and the Gift of Caring Program look for Cookie Booth Sales in front of major stores in your area from February 15, 2013 – March 10, 1013 or contact troop 40933 at cookiesfortroops2@gmail.com to donate directly to our troops effort to support the 142nd Fighter Wing.

To find out about Girl Scouts or volunteer opportunities in your area visit the local Girl Scout website at www.girlscoutsosw.org or call our Portland Service Center: 503-977-6800 or 1-800-338-5248.

There are many great places available for girls to send their Gift of Caring cookies! The council works with the Red Cross to donate many Gift of Caring cookies, but girls and troops are welcome to choose their own organization and select one that has special personal meaning to them and helps them better fulfill their Girl Scout Leadership Experience. Girls may also give to multiple organizations.

Girl Scouts in Bend explore at Science Night, hosted by Bend Research

Thank you to GSOSW Bend staff member Sulema Lambert for sharing this blog post! 

Girl Scouts is not all about cookie, arts and crafts. It’s about science! 

Over 30 Brownies and Junior Girl Scouts in Central Oregon attended a science night for girls hosted by Bend Research. The girls made observations about polycarbon bonds. They hypothesized about sound waves, observing them being represented by fire, changing to a catchy beat.

Girl Scouts observe sound waves demonstrated with fire

Girls also learned a cheer about the phases of matter, and then learned more about those phases with liquid nitrogen, balloons and flowers. They were also able to observe tiny specimens with an electron microscope - did you know that salamanders are actually covered in tiny hairs?

The Girl Scouts had so much fun at the event! A big "thank you" from 30 scientists-in-the-making to Bend Research for showing us that scientists are really big kids with better toys! 

Did you have a fun event, service project or other Girl Scout activity or idea you'd like to submit for the blog? Email Rebekah at rhubbard@girlscoutsosw.org.