GSOSW staff member Alanna Beckwith featued in NOVAA Member Spotlight!

Congratulations to GSOSW Volunteer Support Coordinator Alanna Beckwith, who was featured this week on the Northwest Oregon Volunteer Administrators Association's Member Spotlight!

She has some great things to say about Girl Scout volunteers in her Q&A:  "Girl Scout volunteers are some of the most dedicated volunteers I have ever met. They are the epitome of our mission 'building girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.' As a side effect, we often build VOLUNTEERS of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place!"

Alanna says her biggest accomplishment as a volunteer administrator is "learning how to handle conflict in a professional, respectful way. When I first started at this job, over four years ago, I was intimidated by conflict. I didn’t know where to begin. I feel that I have overcome that initial fear and learned how to work through the conflict to help resolve it."

Read the full interview over at NOVAA's website. 

Don't forget to sign up for the world's biggest sleepover, also known as the GSOSW cookie rally!

It's almost here! The BIGGEST, MOST EXCITING cookie rally & sleepover you've ever seen!

Join us at Evergreen Aviation Museum, McMinnville, OR
Friday, January 11 OR Saturday, January 12
6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. (almost overnight)  $10
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 a.m. (overnight) $27
6:00 p.m. - 10:00 a.m. (overnight with optional water park admission) $27 + $18 water park*

*Water park option includes two hours of exclusive use of the water park, 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. before it opens to the public AND all day admission during the public swim time.
 The rally will include: fun activities, sample cookies, goodie bags with patches and water bottles, lot of prize drawings, 3-D cookie movie, sleeping in the museum under planes or spacecraft, "midnight" snack and continental breakfast.

Older girl troops who run a booth at the rally will get a special late-night movie and a 10% discount on admission. Those troops will have a briefing and run-through on January 5, 2013. Details will be sent separately. If you can't attend the briefing, contact Melissa at mstanley@girlscoutsosw.org.
 
Register online using Personify.

Help Girl Scouts Feed Families on Christmas Morning

Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington is holding a canned food, winter clothing and toy drive for the Washington County Girl Scouts Christmas Breakfast for the homeless.

The community is encouraged to drop off donations at:
• Girl Scouts OSW Portland Service Center, 9620 SW Barbur Blvd, Portland, Monday-
Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. through December 21, 2012
• Grocery Outlet in Hillsboro, 354 South First Ave.,
Hillsboro, Saturday, December 15, 2012

Items needed include:
• Canned food
• Winter clothing items (such as: coats, hats, gloves,
scarves, etc)
• New toys

The Washington County Girl Scouts Christmas Breakfast for the Homeless is coordinated by volunteers. The event was started by a Girl Scout in 2000 when she and other local girls recognized a growing need among their community’s low-income population. More than ten years later, local Girl Scouts, families and community volunteers still gather at the Hillsboro Senior Center to provide Washington County residents with a hot breakfast, clothing and food boxes. Last year, the event served 400-500 people.

This year, the breakfast will be a one-day event held on December 25. A hot breakfast is served Christmas morning from 7:00 a.m.- 10:00 a.m. at the Hillsboro Senior Center. Toys and food boxes will be distributed during that time; availability is first come, first served. The Senior Center is located at 750 SE 8th, Hillsboro (in Shute Park behind the old library).

To volunteer for the event or for more information, visit www.Christmas-breakfast.org or call
Bernice at (503) 977-6851.

Talking to Girls About Violence

Our hearts go out to all involved in the Clackamas Town Center shooting that took place just outside of Portland, Oregon yesterday, December 11. As you and your family process this event, we encourage you to review the “Talking to Children about Violence” resource from the National Association of School Psychologists. This resource has helpful tips for talking to children of all ages about high profile acts of violence. 

http://www.nasponline.org/resources/crisis_safety/talkingviolence.pdf

Dalles Girl Scouts win First Place in Starlight Parade

Thanks to Judy Richardson for this blog post!

I am so proud of our girls - they built this float from a flatbed. The theme for the Starlight Parade in The Dalles was "A Storybook Christmas" - the girls chose the theme, "The Story of 100 Years of Girl Scouting" They were all in their jammies, gathered around a real fireplace with our troop leader, Sommer Lucas, reading to them. They won first place in the parade!

New Bathroom at Seaside: Final construction stages!

A special thank you to Rex Buchanan for providing the photos for this blog post!

The hard work continues at the property at Seaside! Director of Properties, Rex Buchanan, and company worked to finish the walls and floors on Day 3.

On Day 4, they re-installed the appliances and put in the new ADA-accessible shower.

 

On the final day of construction, they added finishing touches - including a curtain for the window.

How Girl Scouts in Oregon and Southwest Washington can help councils affected by Hurricane Sandy

GSUSA has temporarily changed fundraising restrictions in order to allow councils to raise money for Girl Scouting recovery efforts for Hurricane Sandy. Thanks to Sarah Miller, our Director of Communications, for this messaging, and thanks to GSUSA for the press roundup!

To ensure that councils affected by Hurricane Sandy are getting the support they need, GSUSA has temporarily lifted fundraising restrictions to enable girls to raise money for Girl Scouting recovery efforts. At this time, GSUSA is not allowing fundraising for other organizations.

As with all activities in Girl Scouting, the decision to contribute should be girl-led. Contributions may be directed to a specific council or councils through their online giving sites. To give, go to donate.girlscouts.org/hurricanerecovery where you will find links to online giving sites for all eight affected councils, as well as the giving form for the Hurricane Sandy Recovery Fund – a fund set up by GSUSA to help address the needs of councils affected by the storm.

We ask that you please refrain from calling or contacting the councils directly. Although material donations and troop offers of assistance are appreciated, the councils are not currently in a position to process and organize them.

Encouragement from Girl Scout sisters worldwide has been appreciated by all affected. Girl Scouting will continue to thrive thanks to the dedication of volunteers, staff and girls. For updates on how you can further assist recovery efforts, visit blog.girlscouts.org. Additional guidance from GSOSW on how recovery efforts can integrate with the Girl Scout Cookie Program will be available soon at www.girlscoutsosw.org.

Thanks to Girl Scouts of the USA, we have a large roundup of stories of the heroic efforts of Girl Scouts working to help those affected by the storm. 

The New York Times reports that New Yorkers who found each other through Facebook and Twitter, churches and community groups, City Hall, and local elected officials, tried in ways small and large to ease the devastation left by the hurricane. Girl Scouts in Brooklyn hosted a bake sale to benefit a local shelter. The New York Daily News was also on-hand for the bake sale, which was held by the Girl Scouts of Greater New York and students from PS 10.

Also in New York, the Sayville Bayport-Patch reports that a Girl Scout adult volunteer and a local business owner joined efforts to open an emergency center in Sayville where residents needing food, clothing, and living necessities can get supplies and assistance. ABC 13 reports that in Monroe County, NY, Girl Scout Brownie Troop 149 of Fairport and Perinton packed a van with boxes full of donations.

“It really hit home that kids didn't have Halloween,” said adult volunteer Kelly Steamer. “They didn't go trick or treating, so a lot of the girls donated extra Halloween candy out of their own buckets to send to kids down state.”

According to New Jersey's NBC 40, Girl Scouts was among many organizations contributing clothes, canned goods, and baby items to relief efforts by going door to door.

In Connecticut, the Ridgefield Daily Voice reports that Girl Scout Troop 50675 and Boy Scout Troops 116 and 76 helped out in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy by handing out ready-to-eat meals and water to those in need.

In Massachusetts, the Milford Patch reports that Girl Scouts of Historic Hopedale are collecting boxed donations for the victims of Hurricane Sandy in New York. 

New Hampshire's Union Leader and the Merrimack Patch report that the Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains are among local nonprofit organizations spearheading a nationwide humanitarian effort to collect as many hygiene kits as possible to help victims of Hurricane Sandy.

The Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas Blog has a fantastic run-down of ways individuals can help aid in the relief efforts following Hurricane Sandy.