Local Girl Scouts travel to Girls World Forum 2012 in Chicago, IL

A look at one local Girl Scout Troop Leader's adventures at the Girls World Forum in Chicago, IL. Thanks to Troop Leader Rhianna Taniguchi for providing this post! 

Girls World Forum 2012 

Chicago, Illinois 

July 12-16, 2012

By Rhianna Taniguchi 

Girl Scout Troop Leader

Senior in Psychology, Oregon State University 

During the Girls World Forum in Chicago, Illinois, over 500 young women and girls from over 80 countries came together to solve global problems and learn about each other's culture. During July 12-16th of 2012, the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts and the girl planning team of high school Girl Scouts from the USA hosted the event which included a backstage tour of the Brookfield Zoo, a double decker bus tour of Chicago, and a tour of the Platinum LEED certified Chicago Center for Green Technology. While at the 5 day event, girls and young women were given the opportunity to practice different languages, learn new songs, dances, and foods. While on our free time, we explored downtown Chicago: The Cloud Gateway, Millennium Park, and one of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan. I do believe that Chicago is now my favorite city in the US because of its dedication to public structures (parks), fast-paced atmosphere, and architecture. 

 

Not only did I get to meet future leaders of the world, but I also got to meet the current leadership of Girl Scouts of the USA, including Anna Maria Chávez and Connie L. Lindsey, our CEO and Chair of the National Board of Directors respectively. I also got to meet WAGGGS Vice President, Sandy Thomas who is a personal inspiration to me still. These women exemplify the values of Girl Scouts and Girl Guides on a level that needs no translation. 

This experience was unforgettable and brought to light the importance of global citizenship and responsibility. I am so grateful I was able to attend and thank the sponsors and the planning team for their hard work and dedication to creating a world of girls of confidence, courage, and character who make the WORLD a better place.

Vote for Girls of Courage, Confidence and Character Today in Two Facebook Promotions!

It's time to cast your vote!!

No, we’re not entering the race for President. But Girl Scouts OSW is eligible to receive funding from two community partners, and we need your help!

CHASE Community Giving

September 6-19, 2012

We have been selected for participation in the Chase Community Giving 2012 Program, with the opportunity to receive up to $250,000! Supporters who use Facebook can participate by visiting facebook.com/ChaseCommunityGiving and voting for Girl Scouts OSW. Supporters who are Chase customers can also vote at www.ChaseGiving.com. The 196 charities with the most votes will share in $5 million in grants. 

You can help by voting for GSOSW and encouraging everyone you know to do the same.

Eileen Fisher

September 10- October 6, 2012

Each Facebook user can earn $5 for GSOSW’s Girl Scouts Beyond Bars program – YES, $5 per supporter – by visiting www.facebook.com/EILEENFISHERNY and posting a brief, 1-2 sentence description of why supporting women and girls is important to them. They will be given the opportunity to select GSOSW as the recipient of a $5 donation provided by Eileen Fisher. 

Eileen Fisher is donating a total of $10,000 to 26 organizations, so it's important for us to act quickly!

Shop and save! Additionally, the Eileen Fisher store at Bridgeport Village in Tigard, Oregon will be hosting a special shopping event on September 22, during which 10% of all sales go to the Girl Scouts Beyond Bars program. Shoppers will receive $25 off of purchases of $50 or more. Online shoppers can enter 529100 at checkout. Girl Scout staff and girls will be present at the event to discuss the program, and Girl Scouting in general, with shoppers.

GSOSW Announces Three Corn Mazes Celebrating the 100th Anniversary!

The maze at Willamette Valley Fruit Company in Salem.

Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington is very excited to announce that we are partnering with three corn mazes around the state of Oregon to celebrate our 100th Anniversary!

Maze entrance at Rasmussen Farms

Gourdy Girl Scouts at Rasmussen Farms

Make sure to visit one or all of these great mazes! Watch out for Girl Scout Days and opportunities to give back to the community here or at girlscoutsosw.org. 

Willamette Valley Fruit Co.
Harvest Festival

An overhead view at Willamette Valley Fruit Co. in Salem

Salem, OR
Begins October 5!

Rasmussen Farms
Hood River, OR
OPEN NOW!

Fort Vannoy Farms
Grants Pass, OR
Open in October!

PS - if you or your troop/group decide to visit the corn mazes, make sure to take photos and send them to us at rhubbard@girlscoutsosw.org!

GSOSW welcomes new Chief Development Officer Mary Lee Alder

Thank you to KC Carnes, a Development Associate at Girl Scouts of Oregon and SW Washington, for this article! This was originally published in the August 1 Alumnae Newsletter, but we wanted to share it with all of you so we are sharing it on the blog, too. If you'd like to sign up for Alumnae News or our other newsletters, please click here!

 

Mary Lee sported a sweet Girl Scouts tattoo at the Birthday Celebration.

 Mary Lee Alder has over 10 years of professional fundraising experience. She is a Certified Fund Raising Executive, board member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and a member of Willamette Valley Development Officers. She was most recently the Development Director for Self-Enhancement, Inc. (SEI) and oversaw a $3.5 million annual private fundraising goal for the multi-service youth development agency which serves primarily poor children and children of color. Before that, she served for eight years as the Planned Giving Officer/Senior Development Officer for Medical Teams International, an international relief and development agency. She was also a Brownie!

To get to know her better, I asked Mary Lee the following questions:

What is your favorite Girl Scout memory: "When I flew up to Girl Scouts from being a Brownie, we went to the beach and hunted for seashells."

How did Girl Scouts impact you? "At an early age, I became passionate about fairness for girls and other underserved/under represented people."

What is something you are proud of? "Every morning that I actually wake up an hour early and go for a run, I'm really proud of that!"

What advice do you have for girls? "Try new things! Eat weird foods. Every time something doesn't work out the way you think it should, you've learned something to use for next time."

Any advice for adults regarding to how to inspire girls? "When you see a girl doing something right, notice it and comment on it. These can be girls you don't even know. Point out the act of kindness you see her do. And by all means, tell her she's pretty! Every girl has something beautiful about her!"

Mary Lee's attitude on fundraising: "Generous people - at all levels of giving - are always looking for wonderful places to give their money. It's not so much about asking someone for a handout, it's more about asking people to join in this exciting adventure we're on and they're completely stoked to do it. Generous people get great joy out of giving money, whether it's one dollar or a thousand dollars."

Welcome Mary Lee Alder!

Troop 30154 visits Disneyland for their bridging ceremony

Thanks to Savannah B. from Troop 30154 of Grants Pass for this blog post!

In November, when my mom and leader, Naomi B., went to the Girl Scout National Conference, she found out that Disney was partnering with Girl Scouts to create a celebration for the 100th birthday.  She came home and told our troop all about it and we decided that very night we were going to do the trip.  

Our troop has only done one other big trip in seven years and it was to spend the night in the Shark tubes at the Newport aquarium when we were juniors.  Each year, our troop earns money from council sales to fund area events that we host such as the Candyland Ball, Chili-n-S'more Cookoff, Thinking Day, etc and also for the many service projects we do each year according to our badge work and community needs.  

We knew that if we were going to do this trip and still do all the other things we are committed to, we would have to earn more money.  When our troop sat down and did the budget and math, we figured it would cost us $550 per person and that was with the amazing discount 4 day park hopper tickets offered by Disney, the use of a friends Condo for a VERY cheap rate and strategic shopping for meals and gas.  Each girl was responsible to meet the deadlines we set to turn in money, but we all helped each other.

 We organized babysitting nights at a local church and quickly became a popular evening out for many families.  This has become a regular money earning avenue for our troop now.  We also recycled over $100 in cans and bottle, hosted a scrapbook night, did assorted odd jobs as a group and individually to get it all in.  It taught us a lot about being business women and we earned a couple of badges to boot!

Disney arranged for three separate ceremonies that Saturday and our group was the third and final session and there were only two groups from Oregon that went and we were second to last to walk across the bridge.  We had Daisy Duck as our special guest and wearing our uniforms in the park was like being a celebrity.  
 

People would stop and ask us questions about being a Girl Scout and it made us feel good to tell them how important and proud it made us.  We met a lot of girls from all over California, Washington, Alaska and even one girl from Hawaii. It all went by too fast! But coming across the bridge was amazing and awesome!  The next day we had a Youth Education Series class offered by Disney for Animation.  

We were able to go behind the scenes in California Adventure and see animators at work, learn to draw Oswald the Rabbit, act out a cartoon scene, voice it and sing and then ride on Tower of Terror to see how Disney incorporates stories into rides.  We had the best counselor ever! It was a great experience and it taught us that with hard work, we can do anything! Our next goal is to take a cruise in 2014!

Girl Scouts March in Creswell 4th of July Parade

Thanks to Anastasia N., age 12, of SU 64's Troop 20247 for writing this blog post.

Girls ages 5-14 marched proudly and enthusiastically in the Creswell parade. They walked, biked, and or road the float. All had fun with anything they did; passing out candy, and or waving. A great deal of happiness and cheer came from the crowd. Most were happy to see us, asking “Where are the cookies?” and some just saying “Happy 4^th!”. Over all it was a great parade to be in. Girl Scouts was greatly appreciated in the Creswell parade. Hope you can join us next year at our grand parade.

Bronze Award project from Troop 40219 in Canby: Donations to the Oregon Humane Society

Thanks to Leah S., Brianna S. and Jenny T. for submitting this Bronze Award Article to GSOSW

Girl Scout Bronze Award Oregon Humane Society Donations

Brianna S. and Jenny T.

The two Junior Girl Scouts began their adventure by meeting with their leaders and brainstorming ideas of what they both had a passion for and decided they wanted to do something with or for animals. 

Their requirement was to complete one Girl Scout journey and they selected “Get Moving”- Energize, Investigate and Innovate which required them to take time at home, in their community and school to learn about saving energy, recycling to include making recycled paper and collecting cans for recycling, methods of transportation and designing new ways for an old area to conserve energy or reuse materials. In addition they were required to complete at a minimum 20 service hours brainstorming, planning, researching and implementing their service project.

Once the girls completed their brainstorming, they decided on contributing to the Oregon Humane Society for Dogs and Cats/kittens since they both have 1 of each animal.  Their project evolved into making “Pet Paks” when they went into the community to ask for donations for their project.  They designed a flyer (each had a part to write) which described their needs for the project consisting of fleece for the pet warmers and food donations.  

The first store they went to was The Pendleton Woolen Mill store and one of the employees taught the girls how to make “Tug Toys” out of recycled materials from the edges of the wool rugs.  Two of the employees donated five lbs. each of recycled materials for the girls to start their project.   The “Tug Toy” was the beginning. Then they went to the Carpet Store and an employee donated fleece material for their Pet Warmers idea (made from 18x18 pieces of fleece material cut and tied into ½ knots around the edges).

 The next stop was Jo-Ann fabrics where again an employee donated fleece material for the project for a total of 100 pet warmers for injured or battered, abused animals brought into the shelter.   

The second area of the girls’ project they agreed on was that if they were going to donate items to the Oregon Humane Society, they would also go to stores to request donations for dog and cat food and kitten formula based on the request from the Humane Society.  The girls went to Wilco in Canby, Coastal in Oregon City, and Animal House Pet store in Oregon City. In addition the collection of soda cans for the recycling portion of the journey project provided them with money to buy additional kitten food.

All in total the girls made 100 pet warmers, 50 tug toys, received in donations or bought 50lbs of dog food, 30 lbs of cat food, 55 cans of wet cat food and 34 ounces of kitten powder/formula.

The presentation to the Oregon Humane Society was on June 10, 2012 in the afternoon to culminate the girls success in completing 20 hours plus of service time on the project and the “Get Moving” journey.

The families of both girls are proud of their focus, their passion for animals and desire to finish the project together as a team and sisters in Girl Scouting.  The Bronze award is the final accomplishment before moving into Cadette Girl Scouting which starts in 6^th grade. The girls are members of Troop 40219 in Canby, Oregon. A great accomplishment to end their year together.