Get to Know Our Program Centers

We are home to four program centers, providing a second home for Girl Scouts to hike, swim, and camp. Spanning from Missouri to Kansas, our program centers provide Girl Scouts with outdoor experiences like cooking out, sleeping underneath the stars, and blazing nature trails. Each program center is waiting for you and your next outdoor adventure. So, if you are needing a home for your next outdoor adventure—it’s not that far away.

Meet Our Program Centers

Finbrooke Program Center

A spectacular camp tucked away in Christian County, Missouri on 250 acres. Finbrooke offers six different camping units including a choice of small cabins, perma-tents, or platform tents. Each unit has a pavilion with electricity, access to flush toilets, and hot showers. The lodge can house 125 people, with a full commercial kitchen and bathroom facilities. This program center is accredited by the American Camp Association and is ADA accessible. Suggested activities: camping (service unit, troop, or family), fishing, hiking, mountain biking, nature activities, and service projects. The following Outdoor Adventure Programs are available upon request: • Archery • Canoeing • Climbing tower • Zipline • Kayaking • Swimming • Team building games • Low and high ropes challenge course

Friendship Fields Program Center

Located in Crawford County, Kansas, Friendship Fields is on 53 acres and offers the Red Bud Lodge which contains a double fireplace, flush toilets, and hot showers. With a capacity of 75, the lodge’s kitchen and meeting room are well-equipped. The grounds include a pavilion, fire ring, storm shelter, and canoe dock on a small lake that provides the opportunity for canoeing. Friendship Fields also has a 1-room log cabin with a kitchen and bathroom. Friendship Fields is ADA accessible. Suggested activities: camping (service unit, troop, or family), fishing, hiking, nature activities, and service projects. The following Outdoor Adventure Programs are available upon request: • Canoeing • Kayaking • Team building games

Latonka Program Center

Tucked away in its own private cove on beautiful Lake Wappapello in Wayne County Missouri, Latonka offers three camping units with screened cabins and one camping unit with a tree house. Each unit has a pavilion with electricity. All units have access to flush toilets and hot showers. Three climate-controlled buildings (the troop house, infirmary, and old house) are also available. With space for up to 100 people, the dining lodge has a full commercial kitchen, bathroom, and a large, screened area for indoor use or overflow. Troop House may be used year-round. This program center is ADA accessible. Suggested activities: camping (service unit, troop, family), fishing, hiking, nature activities, recreational activities, and service projects. The following Outdoor Adventure Programs are available upon request: • Archery • Canoeing • Paddle boating • Zipline • Low and high ropes challenge course • Swimming • Team building games

Silver Meadows Program Center

Situated on 113 acres in Boone County Missouri and featuring beautiful rolling meadows and a 2.5 acre lake, Silver Meadows offers a two-story lodge that can house 75 people and has a full commercial kitchen and bathroom facilities. An outdoor shelter with showers, flush toilets, and a fire circle is also available— perfect for tent camping. The site has a capacity of 200–500 for day events and is ADA accessible. Suggested activities: camping, fishing, hiking, nature activities, and service projects. The following Outdoor Adventure Programs are available upon request: • Archery • Canoeing • Team building games

Planning Your Trip: Reserving Program Centers

All Girl Scouts are invited to reserve our program centers at no cost. To check the availability of a program center or to begin the reservation process, contact us via info@girlscoutsmoheartland. org. Reservations are currently available for day and overnight use. Confirmations will be sent to the troop after a reservation is complete. • Outdoor Adventure Programs are available upon request based on Girl Scout grade level, as well as following outdoor progression along with our safety activity checkpoints. • Please note, COVID-19 guidelines may affect reservation and activity availability, as well as capacity requirements.

6 Tricks to Boost Her Confidence Today

You want your girls to dream big and achieve huge things in their life—and the first step to that kind of success is helping them to believe they can do anything they set their mind to. Steal these six boost-her-up secrets from Girl Scouts’ resident Developmental Psychologist Andrea Bastiani Archibald and watch the confidence soar.

1. Catch them being Clever

Kids are so terrific at observing life’s funniest, most puzzling, and inspiring moments. When your troop helps you see a situation in a different light, tell them why what they said is so interesting and how they changed your thinking. It matters to them that you’re really listening, and that you appreciate what they have to contribute (which is a lot!).

2. Switch up the Compliments

If their used to being praised on their looks (or even their singing voice or on their soccer prowess), make sure to tell them how great they are at other things, too. They have many talents, and should know that they’re all valuable—that there identity doesn’t have to depend on any one of them. As far as talking about how cute they is it’s fine to tell them their looks nice, but make sure those comments are sprinkled in amongst applause for their numerous skills and talents. They are way more than just a pretty face!

3. Work up a Sweat

Whether you initiate an impromptu yoga session in the living room or challenge them to a round of hoops on the driveway, getting active with your troop will boost theri endorphins (and, thus, their mood) and also help them appreciate just how much their awesome body really can do—instead of only focusing on the way it looks.

4. Ask for Their Help

Have your girls aced almost every video game out there? Have they given you some pointers the next time they’re sitting down for a game. Or if they’re the queen of Instagram filters and you’re, well, a little challenged in that department, have them walk you through her favorites. Whatever they’re great at, call them out on it and let them be the teacher for once. Putting them in an expert role will show your girls that you value their knowledge, and give them leadership skills, too!

5. Let Them Set the Trends

Show curiosity about whatever they are into right now—whether that’s horses, astronomy, or, well, whatever! They look up to you, so when they see you’re interested in the things they likes, too, they’ll feel even more confident in their choices and sense of self.

6. Cheer Them On

There will be times when your girls will want to try out for or audition for things that are highly competitive, and that might not work out for them—that’s a good thing! Don’t discourage ttem from attempting a challenge just because they might not get picked. Instead, tell them how happy it makes you when they try new things and really puts themself out there—and that you’ll be proud of them no matter what happens.

Fall into Fall Product

Fall Product Program is a simple and fast way for troops to earn funds to kickstart their Girl Scout adventures.

Held every October through November, the Girl Scout Fall Product Program is, literally, a short and sweet program designed to help troops raise funds for all the amazing adventures in the year ahead. With just a one month commitment for troops, there are only about 6 steps to participate—with a volunteer support team member coaching you along the way! 1. Attend a Fall Product

Training hosted by your service unit. 2. Host a Family Fall Product

Training—this can be before, after, or in place of a regular troop meeting. This helps to get everyone on the same page to support girls as they set and reach their goals. 3. Set up your Fall Product Account in the M2 software. It’s very user friendly, but we do have all the tutorials and resources to help you navigate it and succeed. 4. While the girls are out reaching their goals, you, the volunteer, will need to be available to collect, receipt, and deposit funds received by your troop during the sale. 5. It’s the end of the sale! Enter the girl orders in M2 and verify the fun and valuable recognitions the girls have earned! These recognitions auto-populate as girls reach different goals—verification is only needed for some levels, for example, those that ask for t-shirt sizes. 6. Be available to distribute the girl recognitions when they arrive in December!

M2, our Fall Product Program management site, is a fun and easy site! Despite its ease, we do ensure that volunteers and girls are adequately trained. Interactive and fun for girls, they can track their recognitions in real time, share videos and pictures to their parents’ social media accounts directly from the product site, and create a custom avatar of themselves.

But really, why participate?

The Fall Product Program provides instant funds for your new troop and for the new Girl Scout year! As sweets and treats are sold, funds are deposited into the troop account. GSMH proceeds are taken out around the first of December and what is left in the troop account is yours to keep! By the first part of December, your troop has funds in their account to use to fulfill their Girl Scout adventures for the year!

2021 Dates

Week of September 20: Service Unit Nut & Candy Chair Training October 22: Program Begins! November 19: Last Day to Collect Orders Week of December 6: Nuts and Candies Delivered to Service Units

Digital Forms and You

During our Product Programs—every box of cookies and candy she sells turns into a lifelong memory for her and a lifetime of leadership for you. The good news is that the resources you need to set yourself and her up for success are right at your fingertips. Resources like forms turning digital makes sure you spend more time leading and less time filling out the necessary forms. Here’s how our digital forms work: 1. You fill out the form with the required information, and hit submit. 2. All submissions are directly and immediately sent to the correct staff member or team. Digital forms allow for your information to not only get to us quicker, but in a more efficient way. This way, you can be there for her, and we can be there for you!