Earn your Girl Scout Hiker Badge, which teaches you how to prepare for a hike. From learning which important items to pack to discovering what kinds of snacks are best for hiking trips, this badge activity is a great opportunity for your troop to enjoy nature and work as a team.

Learn more about the Girl Scout Hiker Badge and other outdoor awareness activities.

Shanasi Bagnariol-Shafer

In addition to serving as a delegate and recruiter for the Mid du Lac service unit, Shanasi is also the Lakamaga Conference committee vice chair. This is her second year working on the event and she believes staying organized, meeting deadlines and maintaining a positive attitude are all critical to her role. “I’m excited by the ideas I get to be a part of and seeing the conference come to life,” Shanasi said.

Debbie Grimmer

For six years, Debbie has served on the Lakamaga Conference committee in a leadership position. “I love the team I have been a part of and enjoy meeting all the new people,” she said. As chair, Debbie plans and leads two-hour, monthly meetings and ensures everything is on schedule. She’s also a delegate, the organizer of the service unit manager group called Order of the Trefoils and the Woodbury service unit manager.

Charmin Pelletier

Charmin is from the Centennial service unit and has been part of the Lakamaga Conference committee for eight years. Her favorite thing about handling accommodations (lodging, welcome ceremonies) is making people feel special, particularly new attendees. Charmin also looks forward to camping, meeting new people and seeing old friends each year.

Karla Wakefield 

As the transportation lead for the Lakamaga Conference committee for the past several years, Karla is constantly on the go, transporting people to and from their classes and sleeping areas, or delivering supplies to different parts of camp. “I get to meet a lot of people during the conference,” she said. Karla is from the Kinni Croix Valley service unit and enjoys seeing old friends and the delicious meals. 

Amy Jones, Sharon Blackie, Sheila Ambrose, Andrea Koukol, Don Lee, Lori LeVasseur, Jan Pluff, Sharon Reece, Terri Siebert, Caroline Thompson, Karla Wakefield, Deb Walstrom-Riske, Emily White and Sandi Wintz also serve on the committee. Bert Jones designed the theme artwork, T-Shirt and patch.

The 10 percent discount will be valid until September 30, 2013, may be applied to the entire in-store purchase and can be used by a troop only once. No printed coupon is necessary—shop staff will verify qualified troops at purchase time.

Register your troop online now.

Artist Lauri Wilson donated her time to create individual windows in honor of Amara (11), Sophie (8) and Celicia (5). Both Sophie and Amara were Girl Scouts. The girls’ mother, Jessica Schaffhausen, worked with River Valleys and Lauri on final approval.

The library was a favorite location for the girls and they spent many hours there with Jessica.

One of the largest single-day donations happened May 4 when girls dropped off more than 2,800 pounds of food at the Cookie Concert at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand.

Girls collected food in a variety of other ways including going door-to-door, working with local service organizations and asking shoppers at grocery stores.

The non-perishable food donations will provide more than 18,600 meals for families seeking emergency hunger relief this summer when many children will not have access to free lunch programs.

Feed the Need was made possible through our lead sponsor General Mills and sponsors Mosaic, Schwan’s Corporate Giving Foundation, Land O’Lakes and Wells Fargo, and in partnership with Radio Disney and Emergency Foodshelf Network.

The Agent of Change Journey focuses on power—the power of “me,” “team” and “community.” The girls used their power to plan and host an anti-bullying event for fourth grade girls. The event informed participants of the different forms of bullying youth can experience and its negative effects.

Girls sported blue nail polish on their pinky fingernails as a symbol of the anti-bullying cause. Each girl completed her pledge to not bully by placing her pinky fingerprint on the troop’s poster, which read, “Pinky Promise to Stop Bullying.”

The troop spread the anti-bullying message to their schools by handing out bracelets with the phrase, “Be a buddy, not a bully!” They also encouraged their classmates to take the pledge to stop bullying and continued to share their message with their Girl Scout service unit and families during a local event called the Powder Puff Derby.

“The girls are very proud of the work they have done,” explains troop leader Stacy Hutchison, “but [they] know that it takes everyone—students, parents, teachers and the community working together to stop bullying.”

“Being on the board is rewarding in so many ways,” explains Kate. “It’s a really educational experience. I am gaining a lot of skills I’ve never been exposed to before.”

Serving on the board is not Kate’s only way of giving back to girls in the community. She has been working towards her Girl Scout Gold Award by starting a debate club and public speaking team for middle school students. Kate encourages kids to voice their opinions through spirited yet respectful conversations.

Since sixth grade, Kate has been a Girl Scout Juliette and focuses her time on learning and connecting with her community. She says that working with younger Girl Scouts has taught her the importance of patience and perspective.

“I’ve learned how to approach problems in different ways,” she says. “It’s important to consider different ways to come to a conclusion—the way that different age groups look for solutions has taught me that.”

We’re asking you to submit summer photos from your Girl Scout experience by emailing them to Girl Scouts Public Relations for a chance to appear on one of those billboards. Did you go to camp? Travel? Try new activities? We want your pictures!

One winning image will be featured on a billboard in the Twin Cities metro area in 2013. Photos must be from the 2012–2013 program year and feature currently registered girls. Submitting photos to Girl Scouts Public Relations authorizes Girl Scouts River Valleys to use them without further approval. For best results, avoid submitting photos taken with a phone. River Valleys has sole discretion in the selection of the winning image.

See some of our past billboards for the type of images that work best. Winners will be notified prior to billboard posting.

We look forward to seeing all of your adventures!

We’re getting closer every day to reaching River Valleys’ Feed the Need food drive goal. Our goal is 20,000 pounds of food donated to food shelves across the council by May 31. Are you ready to take on the challenge?

Last month fifteen Girl Scouts from the Delano-Loretta Service Unit took action, collected and donated 2,180 pounds of food to a local food shelf, giving our food drive a boost and helping those in need. They went door-to-door in their community and handed out bags donated by Cub Foods and Coborn’s. People had the option to fill the bags with non-perishable food items on the spot, or they could fill it at another time and leave it on the front steps to be collected later. 

The girls planned ahead and posted their food collection activity in the local paper so that people would be expecting them. They partnered with Boy Scout troops in the area to distribute the bags and collect the donations. Using ten to twelve SUVs and vans, it took about two hours to collect 2,180 pounds of food. That’s 1,817 meals for Minnesota children in need. 

The food was delivered to Delano Helping Hands Food Shelf, where the girls enjoyed a tour and learned how the food shelf operates. According to food shelf staff, the donation is the single largest food donation they’ve had this year. 

To reach our Feed the Need goal by May 31, we need your help. There’s still time to get out there and see how much food you can collect in your school, your church or neighborhood. Can your troop or service unit top the Delano-Loretto Girl Scouts’ donation? Don’t forget to track your donations so your troop is entered into the Chloe and Halle Bailey Prize Package drawing!

While entering the concert, girls filled up bins with food for Feed the Need. To date, River Valleys has collected 12,800 pounds of food for Feed the Need, and we need your help to reach our 20,000-pound goal.

How to Donate to Feed the Need

• Donate to your local food shelf and log a record of it on our website.

You can also log food donations already donated to other community initiatives, such as Stamp Out Hunger, which took place on Saturday, May 11, or Boy Scout’s Scouting for Food program, which ended March 23.

Feed the Need ends May 31—help us make a difference and feed 16,000 kids!