CEO Update: April 2016

APRIL 2016

Celebrating 100 years of changing the world I can’t believe it’s been more than 50 years since I and many of my Girl Scout sisters boarded the bus to go to Girl Scout Roundup. I have so many fond memories of the friends who accompanied me on the journey and the friends I also made along the way.

This year also marks the 100th anniversary of the highest award. We are proud of the many young women who have honed their leadership skills to earn the highest achievement in Girl Scouting, the Girl Scout Gold Award, making a sustainable impact in their communities and beyond.

I would like to invite everyone who attended Girl Scout Roundup or earned our highest award to a celebration on Saturday, September 3, at Camp Dellwood. For more information, please complete an interest form at www.girlscoutsindiana.org/goldaward.

As we celebrate the milestones, we also look forward to the future.

Together, with Girl Scouts of the USA, we will soon begin working towards implementing the Customer Engagement Initiative (CEI), an interactive and user-friendly new way to provide parents/caregivers and volunteers, and ultimately girls, an easier and faster joining and renewal process.

CEI is all about serving you better.

As we begin this exciting process, you may soon notice additional staff working in service units to provide more support for volunteers.

The supporting software for this initiative includes a new membership database and online volunteer toolkit with digital resources designed to make it dramatically easier for troop leaders to prepare for meetings and connect with other volunteers. Included in this toolkit is access to badge packages that contain take action projects, with hands-on modulars for Journey activities. Along the way, we’ll also launch a new website to support this initiative. Stay tuned for more information as we work on implementation.

Here’s to another amazing 100 years!

Sincerely,

Deborah A. Hearn Smith Chief Executive Officer Have a question, or are you eager to learn more about the new tools and technology we are investing in to better serve you? Join the conversation!

June 11 • 10 a.m.-noon Colts Complex 7001 W 56th St, Indianapolis

The many looks of the highest award over the years This award has gone by many names throughout history, but its meaning stays the same. Starting as the Golden Eaglet of Merit, the highest award in Girl Scouting from 1916 to 1919, this award marked the beginning of a long tradition of recognizing girls who make a difference in their communities with a prestigious award.

Golden Eaglet of Merit 1916-1919

Golden Eaglet 1919-1939

First Class 1938-1940 1963-1980

Curved Bar 1940-1963

Gold Award 1980-Present

Spring renewal

Join us for another year of adventure!

The Girl Scout Cookie Program is wrapping up. Thanks to the hard work of volunteers and staff, girls learned goal setting, money management, decision making, people skills and business ethics. Did you know the Girl Scout Cookie Program is the largest girl-run business in the world? It’s true—and it’s pretty amazing!

Now is a great time to begin planning for another great year with Girl Scouts! Spring renewal begins April 1. Don’t miss out on the fun! We encourage your troop to use the skills they learned through the Girl Scout Cookie Program and to consider using troop proceeds to pay for annual dues.

Register April 1-June 30 Girl incentive: Every girl receives a spring renewal patch. Patches will be distributed at your service unit meetings by September.

Adult incentive: Each leader/coleader will receive a spring renewal patch (up to two adults per troop).

Any troop who participates in spring renewal qualifies for a 50 percent discount for all registered adults to attend Kaleidoscope (November 12).

Troop incentive: Troops will receive a 10 percent off coupon to be used at any Showcase towards purchases (Up to a $100 purchase). Valid through December 16, 2016.

Troops will also receive a Girl Guide (age level of their choice).

Service unit incentive: Two service units will be given the opportunity to rent out a portion of any Girl Scouts of Central Indiana camp facility free of charge based on their girl goals.

The highest registration percentages of service units will be calculated from service units with less than 250 girls and from service units with more than 250 girls.

Get this fun patch >>

Make way for the next generation of women leaders Construction of the Leadership and Learning Center is well under way. Past the gravel drive of Camp Dellwood, the construction site can be seen. Exterior and interior walls are going up around the stone fireplace.

The staircase ascends to the second floor and open workspaces divide into conference rooms.

you to everyone who has made a contribution and invested in the future success of Girl Scouts of Central Indiana. We thank our Indiana community of friends, corporate partners, Girl Scout troops and their families who have joined us in making the Leadership and Learning Center a reality.

For all of this, we want to say thank

Girl Scouts of Central Indiana will 2

move into the building by early fall, and we will be open for business after Labor Day weekend.

If you have not made your donation to the Leadership and Learning Center, you still have time.

Please contact Charlitta Winston, capital campaign manager, at 855.

GSCIN.4U or cwinston@girlscoutindiana.org.

MARCH 2016

Girl Scout alumnae of Troop 55 and current Girl Scouts join together for an afternoon sharing their Girl Scout experience.

Celebrating 104 years of Girl Scouting: honoring the past; celebrating the future They say you make your best friends in Girl Scouts. Don’t believe us? Ask Troop 55. In 1942-43 the women formed their Girl Scout troop. More than 70 years later, the women of Troop 55 remain very close at heart, even though great distances separate many of them.

In December the women planned a reunion and invited our Board Member Heather Zoellick and Historians Jane Pfaffenberger and Noraleen Young.

They laughed and carried on as if no time had passed since they had last seen one another. The women were curious about what current Girl Scouts were doing, and wanted to share their stories with them, too. On March 12, on the 104th anniversary of Girl Scouts, Troop 55 met up with Heather Zoellick and her mother, June Zoellick, and current Girl Scouts, and they had the opportunity to do just that, sharing how their Girl Scout experiences compared.

So, what was Girl Scouts like in the 1940s and ‘50s? Take a seat and grab a brownie made from scratch, of course

by Patty, as she is, and has always been the troop chef since the troop’s

early days. She is also the creator of Shilly-Boo, a delightful take on the hamburger, which was featured in Woman’s Day magazine in 1947.

Each of the six women from the troop shared their Girl Scout experience.

They laughed as they reminisced on the fun and adventures they had at Camp Dellwood and sneaking out to the cemetery at night. Current Girl Scouts shared their own stories from camp, too, as they experienced camping in tents for the first time. You’d better believe the women of Troop 55 were #cookiebosses, too. They didn’t set up cookie booths like current Girl Scouts do, or sell eight varitieties of cookies. They went door-to-door up, up and down the streets of Indianapolis selling one cookie variety-yep, you guessed it, Trefoils.

The fun banter and story-telling went on through the afternoon. While many things have changed, the experiences the women shared are very familiar to those of current Girl Scouts.

The group also started their own legacy project, With Love, Girl Scouts. Each girl wrote a positive message to a future 3

Above: (Left to right) Patricia Baughman, Ann Huser, Marilyn Goeke, Louise Renault, Joan Tetrick and Sister Louise Hoeing gather together holding a photo of their troop taken in 1946 at their leader’s home in Indianapolis.

Right: Girl Scouts in Troop 202 draw a picture as their contribution to the With Love, Girl Scouts project.

Girl Scout who walks through the Math and Science Center at Camp Dellwood.

Visit the Math and Science Center to leave your own note.

Junior Troop 202 concluded the afternoon by teaching Troop 55 and the other troops a song, which of course created more laughter by all.

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SAVE -theDATE 2016

March 14- April 9 Scouting for Food All Kroger locations in central Indiana except for Madison County

June 11 CEO Service Team Conversation Colts Complex, Indianapolis

May 1-28 Madison County Scouting for Food

Center Grand Opening Leadership and Learning Center at Camp Dellwood, Indianapolis

May 14 Girl Scouts for Old Glory Indiana War Memorial May 15 Richmond Lemonade Day

October 8 Latinas Taking the Lead Graduation Embassy Suites North, Indianapolis

June 25 April 25 Terre Haute Lemonade Annual Meeting Day Grand Hall at Westlake Gardens, September 1-4 Indianapolis Leadership and Learning

May 21 Bloomington, Columbus, Indianapolis, Kokomo and Lafayette Lemonade Day

October 25 Leadership Luncheon Indiana Roof Ballroom, Indianapolis November 12 Kaleidoscope

June 4 Brownsburg W Middle School, Girls of Distinction Indianapolis JW Marriott, Indianapolis

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