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!

On October 13, 2012, River Valleys’ girls, families and volunteers raked up and bagged 2 million pounds of leaves, soil and other debris from streets, parks and other public spaces. By keeping the leaves and other organic material out of storm sewers on Centennial Day of Service, girls helped fight the nutrient-fed excess algae growth that often chokes surface waters in urban areas.

Throughout the day, girls also stenciled 7,000 storm sewer entrances with an anti-pollution message. Many of the messages said: “Please Don’t Pollute. Drains To Mississippi River.”

“To mobilize 27,000 people on one day, and to keep this amount of organic material out of our rivers and streams, was just a phenomenal feat,” says Joan Nephew, the Freshwater Society’s executive director. “We are proud to have partnered with the Girl Scouts in this effort.

“And we are prouder still that many of the Girl Scouts have committed to repeating the cleanup this fall.”

The Freshwater Society and the Friends of the Minnesota Valley helped organize and coordinate Centennial Day of Service. The 3M company was the corporate sponsor.

Soon after her inquiry, River Valleys reached out and invited her to a volunteer recruitment event. She says, “I attended my first meeting and was asked if I wanted to co-lead a troop of Daisies with another volunteer, Kelly Christofferson. I was nervous at first, but Kelly and I decided that together we could lead the group of girls.”

Karen and Kelly’s troop has been going strong for five years and typically has around 17 girls. Although Karen doesn’t have a daughter in Girl Scouts, her troop has become very special to her. She spends a great deal of energy staying in contact with the parents and recruiting new members. A tool she loves to use is Shutterfly, where she can privately share pictures and troop updates with the families. She jokes, “I sometimes feel like I over-communicate.”

Karen and Kelly do a lot for their troop, but they get some help along the way from their ready and willing troop parents. “My advice to people is to organize things in a way so you don’t have to do everything yourself,” explains Karen. “There are so many resources available, it is important to realize what parents are good at and what they can commit to, even if it is something small.”

Karen’s favorite Girl Scout memory was two years ago at her wedding. She invited her troop to her special day on Memorial Day weekend. Many of the girls attended with their families, and Kelly’s daughter even walked Karen down the aisle. “I was so surprised at how many girls came since it was over a holiday weekend,” says Karen, “At the reception, they manned the candy table and filled the dance floor. We even did a few Girl Scout dances!”

No longer the new person in town, Karen now has a strong network in the Rochester area. Through her experience as a volunteer, she gained a best friend, her co-leader Kelly, and built a Girl Scout family.

Register online today.

Troops Can Earn 20 Percent Off at Girl Scout Shops

All new 2014 troops and renewing troops with at least 50 percent of the girls and one leader participating in Early Registration will receive a 20 percent council shop coupon. The coupon will be sent to each (re)registering leader via email within two weeks of the troop registration processing and will be valid until September 30, 2013. Troops will receive the coupons with enough time to use them towards year-end celebrations and court of awards. Coupons can be applied to the entire purchase but can only be used by a troop once. They are only for in-store purchase at one of eight locations.

Resources

• Fun Hummingbird Activities
• Family Re-Registration Quick Start Guide
• Troop Re-Registration Quick Start Guide
• Family New Girl Registration Video
• Family Re-Registration Video
• Troop New Girl Registration Video
• Troop Re-Registration Video
• Early Registration Troop Information

Prefer Paper?

• 2013-2014 Adult Member Registration Form
• 2013-2014 Girl Member Registration Form

Early Bird Registration Webinar

Learn all about Early Registration and ask questions of River Valleys staff. Use the links below to find webinar details including login information.

When: Tuesday, April 30 (noon–1:00 pm or 8:00–9:00 pm)

As an alumna, Amanda knows the importance of growing up as a Girl Scout and didn’t want girls to miss out on the opportunities she had. She says, “I know how much Girl Scouts impacted my life. It helped me become organized and take on active leadership roles.” Amanda started Girl Scouts when she was in kindergarten and earned both the Girl Scout Silver and Gold Awards.

Amanda enjoys reliving her experience as a Girl Scout by co-leading her Girl Scout Daisy troop. For her, “The big thing is to help teach girls leadership skills, encourage them to be self-confident and help them reach their goals.” This year, she taught the Girl Scout Promise and Law and got the girls ready for cookie season through role-playing. Next up on her agenda is to get the girls prepared for a day camp experience this spring.

Amanda will be transferring leadership of her troop completely to the parents at the end of the year, and she has plans to start another Daisy troop next year. In addition to being a troop leader, Amanda has also been on the Girl Scout Gold Award committee for several years and has been a volunteer at council-sponsored program and membership recruitment events.

The lessons learned and sisterhood gained through Girl Scouts are tremendously important to Amanda, and her dedication to River Valleys as a volunteer proves that. As a leader, she says, “You can see the growth in the girls. They become more outgoing and willing to talk—they are bonding and forming friendships outside of school. As a leader, you’re actually helping shape girls into successful women.”

Some of her most memorable moments in Girl Scouts were attending the National Convention in Texas and representing the Peacepipe Council twice at Macy’s Training Center in New York for NASA trainings. She was also selected to attend a training at Goddard Space Center in Maryland that helped her start up space activities for the council.

As a leader in Girl Scouts, Gerri has learned a great deal over the years. She is currently taking education assistant classes at Ridgewater College, where she regularly applies skills and experiences from Girl Scouts. She looks forward to working in a school system, which will allow her to continue to work with children.

Participating in Girl Scouts as an adult has been incredibly satisfying for Gerri. She has enjoyed watching girls mature and grow up and share special experiences with them. She hopes to continue as a leader for many years to come, because she feels just as young as the girls when she’s working with them.

It is Gerri’s hope that the girls she works with will take their Girl Scout memories with them, particularly the outdoor activities, and share them with the next generation as she has.

Booth Locator

If you’d like to find a cookie booth near you, visit the handy Little Brownie Baker cookie locator. If you’re a Girl Scout with a cookie booth, don’t forget to bling it!

Celebrate with Us

February 8 is also National Girl Scout Cookie Day. To celebrate here at River Valleys, take a photo bomb picture with a box of cookies and post it to our Facebook page.

The troop’s final camping trip was in 1959. Seven of the Girl Scouts spent almost three months camping with two leaders at 36 different sites across Europe, including visits at Our Ark in London, the Girl Guide Hostel in France and Our Chalet in Switzerland. For this grand tour, they packed a Volkswagen bus with a tent, cooking supplies and gear. Taking this type of trip was unusual at the time, and this ambitious endeavor provided a very enriching experience.

The girls began planning their European tour in fifth grade when they were working on an International Friendship Badge. While preparing for performances at the State Fair and the Festival of Nations, the girls wondered if they could visit the countries they were learning about and representing. The answer they received was yes! They could do it if they worked for it.

Over the following years, the girls eagerly fundraised by babysitting and selling nuts, cookies, fresh eggs and holding quarterly paper sales. They balanced this work with additional part-time jobs, high school activities like the Honor Society, and badge-earning activities with Girl Scouts.

Their hard work paid off, and the girls were able to fully fund their 1959 trip. Through this process, they gained independence and developed team building, organizational and leadership skills.

With the support of their families and their talented leader, Charlotte Rotzel, the girls graduated as Girl Scout Mariners in 1960, achieving the highest level for Girl Scouts at the time. The women from Troop 430 remain loyal friends today, and although many have moved from Minneapolis, they continue to meet and celebrate the legacy of their troop (photo from October 2012).

A special thanks to Nancy Moe, member of Troop 430, for providing the details for this story.

Has your group stayed connected over the years? We’d love to hear! Submit your story and photos. 

Her decision to join TFA came during her senior year in college when she was looking for an opportunity to create a meaningful impact in the country. When Anna discovered TFA she thought it would be a great fit given her Girl Scouts background. To her, “The core values of the Girl Scouts are really aligned with Teach For America’s core values—transformational change, diversity, leadership, team, respect and humility.”

Years after completing her TFA term, Anna is now leading the effort to recruit young people into the program. She looks back on her experience with Girl Scouts and recognizes the integral role it played in encouraging her to become a strong leader. Some of her best memories are from summers at Camp Northwoods, where she camped and ventured out on canoe and backpacking trips.

“I think that the cumulative experiences at Camp Northwoods taught me about self-awareness, which I now know is critical to leadership,” reflects Anna. “I learned how to listen to others and to nature, how to be comfortable with myself (which is hard when you are in middle school), and how to have perspective and appreciate just how lucky and privileged I was growing up.”

This article was adapted from GSUSA’s original blog post. For the complete interview, visit GirlScouts.org.

Minnesota 2012 Elections

As the election season wraps up, River Valleys is taking a moment to recognize and celebrate two Girl Scouts River Valleys board members who won their races last night.

Melisa Franzen

Sharon Hollatz

Alumnae in Office Across the Nation

Do you know of a Girl Scout alumna who became an elected official this year? Name her in the comments box below!