Keeping The Promise Resource Development Newsletter: March 2024

KEEPING THE PROMISE Resource Development Newsletter

Celebrating

112 Years of Championing Girls

NOTE FROM OUR CEO

Today, on March 12, Girl Scouts turns 112 years old. As a council, we continue to move forward, building on the same foundations that Juliette Gordon Low established when she created the first Girl Scout troop in Savannah, GA in 1912.

We are still an organization that is for girls and by girls. Our traditions and programming have stood the test of time, and we continue to be a place where girls can thrive. We are still an organization that encourages every girl to get outside, experiencing the outdoors in new and exciting ways. And we are still an organization that strives to be inclusive of all girls, no matter their backgrounds or interests, giving them opportunities to stretch their abilities, discover their passions and build their confidences.

As we celebrate another birthday and another Girl Scout Week, we are also celebrating youour donors- who continue to share in our strengths and build on future successes. Your gifts and your dedication continue to make a difference!

CEO, Girl Scouts Carolinas Peaks to Piedmont

Celebrate 112 Years of Girl Scouting with a Birthday Gift to GSCP2P! Join us as we continue to provide the Girl Scout Leadership Experience to local girls in central and western North Carolina. Learn more about our various giving opportunities at www.girlscoutsp2p.org/en/support-us.html.

Welcome to GSCP2P, Cecily!

Cecily Rouse joined Girl Scouts Carolinas Peaks to Piedmont as the Senior Director of Philanthropy at the end of February and is thrilled to be returning to Girl Scouts.

“If we want our future communities to tackle the enormous challenges that are coming our way, we need leaders who are creative, collaborative and inspirational,” says Cecily. “Girl Scouts offers girls an unmatched opportunity to build and stretch their leadership skills. We need dreamers, innovators and problem-solvers. We need more Girl Scouts!”

Cecily has 20 years of fundraising and nonprofit leadership experience in the nonprofit sector and worked previously for the Girl Scouts- NC Coastal Pines council. She’s been a long-time champion for women, girls, youth development and experiential education. Cecily spends her free time completing dissertation work at Clemson, riding horses, making art and being in nature with her two daughters as much as possible. Her youngest, Alice, will be a Girl Scout Brownie this fall.

Cecily will be based out of the Asheville Service Center, but looks forward to traveling across our counties to meet our volunteers, girls, donors and community supporters. Please reach out to her to say hello!

Cecily Rouse Senior Director of Philanthropy

Looking Ahead into Her STEMtastic Future at Annual Meeting

Join us at GSCP2P’s Annual Meeting on Saturday, April 13 in Greensboro!

Celebrate the accomplishments of our volunteers, network with members, receive important updates and vote on council business. Plus, learn how GSCP2P is launching into Her STEMtastic Future with engaging speakers, hands-on STEM activities and more!

Additional activities are planned for Friday night at Keyauwee Program Center, as well as the opportunity to spend the night at camp.

All adult members and girl members ages 14 and up are invited to join us at Annual Meeting. In-person and virtual options are available. For more information about the weekend’s events and to register, please visit bit.ly/4bAqVvu.

A Lifetime of Sisterhood

Did you know high school graduates can become lifetime members of Girl Scouts? What a great gift to give a girl who is ending her Girl Scout journey and beginning another one!

Lifetime memberships are available for any individual who accepts the principles and beliefs of the Girl Scout Movement, pays the one-time lifetime membership fee and is at least 18 years old (or a high school graduate or equivalent). Lifetime membership dues are usually $400, but for “young alum” lifetime members, the fee is just $200 (applies to any former Girl Scout under age 30).

Plus, when you sign up as a lifetime member, $25 of your dues will automatically fund one year of Girl Scout membership for an underserved girl in your local council. Over the past few years, lifetime members have helped provide more than 30,000 memberships to Girl Scouts across the country whose families would otherwise not have been able to afford it.

Additional Alum Benefits

Learn more about national opportunities for alums, including travel opportunities, Beyond Ambassadors resources, Campus Girl Scout clubs for college students and more by visiting www.girlscouts.org/en/get-involved/alums.html.

YOUNG ALUM SPOTLIGHT

ALEXANDRA NEWMARK

Alexandra Newmark, Boone, is a recent Girl Scout alum, having graduated from Watauga High School in June 2023 and is now attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she is a Morehead-Cain Scholar and is currently exploring majors in the STEM fields.

Alexandra was a Girl Scout her whole childhood and a member of Girl Scout Troop 10807beginning with Girl Scout Daisies and going through the whole program, earning her Girl Scout Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards. Below she tells us a little bit more about her Girl Scout experience and the memories and skills she has taken with her.

What is your best memory from Girl Scouts?

“I don’t have just one favorite memory from Girl Scouts. But, my favorite memories are of the friendships and laughs I have had with fellow Girl Scouts. Last year, my troop went to the Girl Scout National Convention. That experience fostered so many conversations with other troops, leading to lasting memories and laughing until my sides hurt!”

Tell us a little bit about your Girl Scout Gold Award project.

“For my Girl Scout Gold Award project, I noticed that there needed to be more knowledge surrounding proper self-defense in my community,” said Alexandra. “To solve this problem, I hosted a series of self-defense workshops. This taught girls in my community necessary self-defense, safety and life skills. I also designed a Patch Program so that Girl Scouts from all over can learn self-defense too!”

What is your favorite thing about Girl Scouting?

“My favorite thing about Girl Scouting is the community. Girl Scouts is all about bringing people together- and connecting with others is such an important part of life. I’ve made a lot of lifelong friends through Girl Scout events and, even now, mentioning that I was a Girl Scout has been an easy way to spark a conversation and truly get to know another person.”

Alexandra is an assistant Instructor in American Freestyle Karate with the rank of High Red Belt. She continues to work toward the next level, Brown Belt.

Why do you think girls should be Girl Scouts today?

“Girls should join Girl Scouts because being a Girl Scout teaches you how to build relationships with other women. Girl Scouts helps you learn to celebrate each other’s successes and how to build each other up. Our interpersonal connections make a difference in how we see each other, our experiences and other people in the world. Girl Scouts also taught me so many valuable life skills that I have used in my everyday life. Because of Girl Scouts, I know about presentational skills, money management and so many other practical skills that I learned through badges and other Girl Scout experiences.”

What is the best thing you learned or took away from your years as a Girl Scout?

“I learned how to embroider because of Girl Scouts! It was not something I had ever been exposed to and probably never would have tried. For my Girl Scout Bronze Award, our troop embroidered greeting cards to support our art teacher. These skills have stuck with me, and to this day, I still embroider cards for my friends’ birthdays.

Girl Scouts also taught me how to build a fire. This skill has been vital when camping, which I did for 25 days in the Alaska wilderness last summer. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to learn such an important life skill.

I also think that my time as a Girl Scout helped me qualify for this (Morehead-Cain) scholarship and taught me so many skills that I use as a Morehead-Cain Scholar. For example, I use the team building and leadership skills I developed while selling cookies to help build intentional communities, remove barriers and foster learning- values that Morehead-Cain Scholars use to make the world a better place.”

“Girl Scouts helps you learn to celebrate each other’s successes and how to build each other up. Our interpersonal connections make a difference in how we see each other, our experiences and other people in the world. Girl Scouts also taught me so many valuable life skills that I have used in my everyday life.”

Alexandra at the 56th Girl Scout National Convention in Orlando, FL.

VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT JOANNE JENKINS

JoAnne Jenkins lives in Boone and has served as a Girl Scout volunteer with the High Country Service Unit for 22 years, leading Girl Scout Troop 10807. Her start with Girl Scouts is a little out of the ordinary since she didn’t have a daughter involved in the organization, but she was a Girl Scout Cadette for three years as a girl and she simply fell in love with the program.

“When I was 36, I felt like there should be more to my life than just work, and my mother reminded me that, as a kid, I always said I was going to be a Girl Scout leader. So, I called the council, got some training and had a troop about a month later. And that’s when I found out I was the oddball leader because I didn’t have a daughter in my troop!”

JoAnne hasn’t really looked back since. She admits that when she started her troop, she was clueless and the work involved as a Girl Scout volunteer is not always easy, but it’s always been amazingly rewarding.

“Learning how to be a good troop leader has taken years, but I think I’m pretty good at it now. I’ve spent so much time planning Girl Scout meetings and trips and keeping track of cookies. Probably the biggest thing I’ve learned is how to plan a trip- we took a group of 55 on a trip to Washington DC for the 100th anniversary of Girl Scouts, and even the bus driver was impressed with my planning!”

JoAnne also says the best part of her Girl Scout journey has been the people, and she encourages others if they are looking for a fulfilling volunteer position that Girl Scouts is it.

“Girl Scouts is not just for mothers who want to be a leader for their daughter- it’s a great way to volunteer for anyone! I’ve made so many lifelong adult friends through this organization.”

“Girl Scouts is not just for mothers who want to be a leader for their daughter- it’s a great way to volunteer for anyone! I’ve made so many lifelong adult friends through this organization.”

But for JoAnne the girls she has served have been the best part of her experience.

“If I am having a crummy day, and I feel like I’m forcing myself to go to our meeting, those girls will give me a hug and pull me into a circle of love and I can’t feel bad anymore. By the end of the meeting, we are all usually laughing our heads off,” she says. “Even though I don’t have a daughter, I feel like all the girls in my troop are “my girls”.”

Many of Joanne’s “girls” have grown up and graduated recently or will be soon, so she says her days as troop leader are coming to end. But that doesn’t mean she is leaving Girl Scouts anytime soon.

“I can’t imagine my life without Girl Scouts, so I am trying on other Girl Scout hats to find the one that looks good on me (including recently joining the council’s Finance Committee). I’ve been involved with Girl Scouts longer than any other thing I’ve done in my life!”

Volunteer Appreciation Month is celebrated during the month of April and Girl Scout Leader Appreciation Day is April 22. Saying thank you to our volunteers who do so much each and every day to further our mission in the communities we serve is important! A simple thank you card showing your appreciation can go so far in showing them just how much they have changed your life. You can also make a gift in honor or memory of your favorite Girl Scout leader at www.girlscoutsp2p.org/en/support-us/donate.html

JoAnne at the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace Museum in Savannah, GA.

Learning Entrepreneurial Skills and the Benefits of Thinking Outside the Box

Thank you for supporting us through another cookie season and empowering the next generation of business leaders!

The 2024 Girl Scout Cookie Program ended on March 3 and it was another successful year of cookie selling across our 40 counties. Girls canvassed our communities with cookies- from cookies booths in front of many major retailers, Walk-About Week through their neighborhoods, participating in interviews with media outlets and even forming partnerships with locallyowned businesses through the Cookie Tycoon program.

Troops and girls also drew on their creativity this year through our “Out of the Ordinary” for Success Challenge, which encouraged girls to find new and innovative ways to sell cookies. Their ideas not only supported their efforts to fund upcoming Girl Scout adventures- they also supported our Cookies for a Cause service project, which benefited local first responders, the U.S. military and food banks this year.

In addition to the five key business skills provided by our Girl Scout Cookie Program (goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics), $15,000 in scholarships for higher education will be granted at our G.E.O. Ceremony at Wet ’n Wild, Emerald Pointe on June 8.

Thea M., Girl Scout Troop 40057, Asheboro

Her video can be seen at www.facebook.com/ gscp2p/videos/403307349052915.

Out-of-the-Ordinary Cookie Program

Girl Scout Troop 10242, Pilot Mountain

Most Unique Sales Location Girl Scout Troop 10114, Asheboro

Most Decorative Booth/Booth Display Girl Scout Troop 40057, Asheboro

Best Sales Pitch Ever

Success

Invest In Girls

Help us support the next generation of dreamers, innovators, problem solvers and gogetters, who are making the world a better place for us all.

When you support our Resilient. Ready. Strong. campaign, you are empowering our council to reach our objectives of providing support for mental well-being, getting all girls outside and reaching new members with greater inclusivity.

Learn more and give today at www.girlscoutsp2p.org/en/give/invest-in-girls.html.

DONATE IN THE WAY THAT WORKS BEST FOR YOU

Join Our Evergreen Circle

Make a recurring monthly gift to impact the lives of girls all year long by joining the Evergreen Circle.

Join the Juliette Circle

Juliette Circle members passionately support leadership development for young women by making an annual contribution of $1,000 or more.

Become a Member of the Juliette Gordon Low Society

Help shape tomorrow’s leaders and safeguard the Girl Scout tradition in western and central North Carolina with a legacy gift.

Make a Tribute Gift

Give a gift in honor or memory of someone special to you.

To donate through these opportunities or for even more ways to give, such as through your workplace or while you shop, visit www.girlscoutsp2p.org/en/give/ways-to-give.html.