APPRECIATION PINS

Good Guy Awards

The “Good Guy” Award is a special award designed to say thank you to supportive “behind the scenes” guys and gals who, without an official title, assist Girl Scouts.

Andrew Kahn | SU203 Yorba Linda East

Erik Larson | SU306 Surf City

Gregoria Freeman | SU105 Los Alamitos/Rossmoor

Jamie Montgomery | SU105 Los Alamitos/Rossmoor Kent Callahan | SU602 Lake Forest

Ricky Castro | SU202 Yorba Linda West

Ryan Hoadley | SU501 South Irvine

Scott Comroe | SU602 Lake Forest

President’s Awards

The President’s Award recognizes the efforts of a Service Unit team or program delivery team in moving an area or audience toward achievement of the Council’s goals during a fiscal or membership year.

Global Action Team

Barb Christensen, Siobhan Hickey, Patti Larson, Lisa Hinshaw, Christine Reisch, Heidi Duerr, Addy Lerner, Suhani Pavani, Natali Cano, Shayda Roshdieh, Sabine Lerner The Global Action Team is a group of dedicated volunteers who believe strongly in presenting programming, travel, and information to both leaders and girls throughout Orange County to give them a deeper understanding and view of their place in the world. This year, the Global Action Team created a greater sense of girl focus by adding in two girl committee members. This addition to the team allows girls’ perspectives and voices to the programming and activities being presented. The Global Action Team has worked to adapt programming at the national level to fit the needs in Orange County by infusing a global perspective into the programs. This year with the pandemic, the Global Action Team worked to adapt the Golden Gate Bridging to a virtual celebration. The team also moved the Democracy series, and discussions during the election and inauguration, to a virtual platform. Additionally, the Global Action Team partnered with girls and leaders from Guyana as part of the 2020 Global Roundtable. Through this partnership, they created a session for Daisy, Brownie and Junior Girl Scouts, so they could ask the Girl Guides about scouting in their country.

Tustana & Tustin East Holiday Bazaar Committee

Kelly Black, Cynthia Tyler, Angela Barker, Addy Lerner, Holly Maddox, Sharon King, Fran Hagland, Trisha Gable The Tustana & Tustin East Holiday Bazaar Committee continued the tradition of the Holiday Bazaar event for their troops, which teaches girls money management and budgeting. This year the volunteer team worked endlessly to pivot this in-person event into a virtual one. The Committee worked tirelessly to give troop leaders timely communication via their website, flyers, instructional videos and live Zoom meetings on how the event will work. In addition, there was a shopper’s catalog, online shopping website, and invoicing for girls and leaders to manage orders. The Committee also collected and distributed all of the purchased items, which required contactless drop-off and pick-up. There were over 2,000 items sold during the one-week online sales event. It was the work of the Tustana & Tustin East Holiday Bazaar Committee that made the transition of this event into a virtual event appear seamless.

Appreciation Pins

The Appreciation Pin honors those whose service has been outstanding, over and above the expectations of the position held, and who have had a significant impact on at least one geographic area of the council (service unit or region).

Derek Ige

SU104 - Anaheim Derek’s main focus as a volunteer is the work he does as a robotics volunteer. He likes to make sure the girls have the best possible educational and leadership experience with robotics, and he strives to educate fellow coaches on how to encourage girls in a girl-led atmosphere. This year when pandemic related restrictions prevented the robotics teams from practicing in person, Derek came up with a solution for an effective practice table barrier that was approved by Girl Scouts of Orange County, which allowed pairs of girls to practice at the table while still adhering to GSOC safety guidelines. Derek has made a significant impact on all five of GSOC’s robotic teams, especially the three new teams, all while creating a sustainable structure.

Elizabeth Cronin

SU603 – Rancho Portola Elizabeth has worked wonders in fostering a love of nature and the outdoors for girls and leaders in her two troops and the Rancho Portola Service Unit. She has brought her passion for the outdoors by being a member of the planning committee for the Service Unit campout. Elizabeth was in the process of planning the Service Unitwide Skills Day when the pandemic hit, and she re-tooled the event to run virtually on Zoom. She kept this event girl-led and worked with her troops to create this event virtually. In addition, Elizabeth has been a coach, mentor, leader and advocate for all Girl Scouts and volunteers she serves. She has been a member of the Service Unit team for many years and has added value to each volunteer position she has taken on and set it up for success when she moved to another position.

Jami Andrews

SU504 – Laguna Beach Jami is girl-focused and ensures the girls in Laguna Beach have a fun and meaningful experience, so they stay engaged in Girl Scouts. She mentors leaders to run fun events and offers her expertise in Girl Scouts and events to allow the girls to enjoy new events with fun themes. Jami also promotes Girl Scouting in Laguna Beach and has increased membership by helping to form new troops. During the pandemic, Jami connected with each troop in the Laguna Beach Service Unit to make sure they knew how to use Zoom to keep the girls active while unable to meet in person. She took the time to work with troops who needed help to ensure their troops could continue to be active.

Kellie Almy

SU503 – North Irvine Kellie is a mentor to girls at every Girl Scout level in the Service Unit and helps create girl leadership. Throughout the years, Kellie has been responsible for helping to organize many girl-led events for the Service Unit, including several virtual events throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. She is the Event Chair for the Irvine-wide World Thinking Day event and this year she designed the entire event to be virtual and engaged Girl Scouts at every level. In addition to the World Thinking Day event, Kellie also hosted a virtual holiday event for the Service Unit, and a “bring a friend” virtual family scavenger hunt. She worked hard to keep the Service Unit alive and well during this challenging time!

Laura Wong

SU304 – Ocean View Laura is an integral part of the Service Unit Team and provides assistance wherever needed. She helps run Cookie Rookie and Nutty Newbie sessions and mentors all troops in the Service Unit with the product programs. Laura makes sure new Troop Leaders have their questions answered and are comfortable in their new roles. She took on the responsibility of Product Coordinator for Juliette Girl Scouts for both the North and Central regions. Laura has taken the vast knowledge of this position to ensure Juliettes from all over Orange County can participate in the product programs. This year, with the pandemic, Laura took new ideas and created a virtual cookie booth lottery. She did this not only for the Service Unit, but also for both regions for the Juliette Girl Scouts.

Leeora Beck

SU606 - Oso Valley Leeora has continued to volunteer for the Oso Valley Service Unit for many years even after her daughters graduated. She continues to lead the Senior/Ambassador troop Tempest and create a girl-led atmosphere for the girls in the troop. Leeora, along with leadership from surrounding Service Units, guides older Girl Scouts in organizing and executing an International Day event annually. With the money earned from this event, she ensures that graduating Girl Scouts may continue their leadership experiences with the opportunity to earn college scholarships. Leeora is a committed volunteer and proactively engages volunteers to continue with Girl Scouting. She is a true Girl Scout and asset to the Oso Valley Service Unit.