Leader's Meeting Minutes - 11/16/10

Attendees: Service Unit (SU) Coordinator: Amy Kelly [71901,73897], SU Secretary: Debbie Nearing [73891], SU Recording Secretary: Alycia McGoldrick [73904], SU Event Coordinator: Angela Danico [71886], SU Registrar:Anne Valade, SU Cookie Coordinator: Kerstin March [71898],  SU Treasurer: Julia Slavin [71872], Little School Organizer: Barbara Gravel [71876], Batch School Organizer: Michelle Rosenthal [71902,71896], Denise Costantino [71865], Lisa Quaratiello [71884], Amanda Heffernan [71888], Michelle Gwozdz [85120], Kristin Puliafico [85118], Denise Forcellese [73901], Christie Perrone [73898], Sue Kirby [73899], Janice Gulbicki [71905], Sandra Griffin [71900], Laura Wall [73903], Janelyn Wise [73894], Kerry Lord [71889]


Items requiring attention are marked in red
ASAP!! Items requiring IMMEDIATE attention are preceded by "ASAP!" and marked in red

Intro/Announcements
- Meeting was called to order at 7:45 pm
- An Investiture Ceremony was performed to welcome the following new leaders:  Denise Costantino, Lynn Landers, Mary Davis, Kristine Pecora, Kristin Pulicafico, Mary Pierce, Janie Giunta, Michelle Gwozdz, Patti Harrington, Jennifer Dee...welcome aboard! 

Registration Update
- 70 new girl registrations this fall
- 5 new K-Daisy troops, 1 new 1st-Daisy troop
- Check your troop rosters.  If you don't see a girl on your roster, check with Anne Valade.  For cookie purposes, you can add girls to the database but cannot delete them.  If you have girls on your roster who are not active - they will show up in your cookie database - see Anne, she will turn them into Juliettes.

New Daisy Leader Guidebooks are available through Amy.  These books are a collection of things from trainings, sample meeting ideas, coloring sheets, and other resources to help with new troop startup!

Events
- Alycia presented the Event Guidelines
- Further advice from people who have planned events - Keep your deadlines in mind!  You'll always get stragglers and people calling the day of to attend.  You need to hold firm otherwise you'll stress out about supplies, space, etc...  Leaders and parents need to learn that deadlines are deadlines!  Besides - what kind of a lesson does it teach the girls when we basically let people cut the line.
- Once girls are registered scouts, even if their troop has not met yet, they can go to events (townwide or even Council events).
- All events should be offered/presented to the girls even if you (the leader) can't go.  Some other registered mom can step in and help out.
- Council events are up on the GSEM website - and updated more regularly than the once yearly booklet.

Upcoming Events
Daisy/Brownie Father/Daughter Field Day - 11/20
- 83 Girls have signed up so far!
- Registration officially closed on 11/10

Nutcracker - NR School of Ballet - 12/4
- At the Collins Center at Andover High School
- Not a Friends and Family Event
- Limited number of $15 tickets available for 12/4 3pm and 7pm shows to Scouts and their chaperones
- Orders need to be back to Mary Lasdin by 11/23
- A single check from the troop should be written to Albany Berkshire Ballet

Healthtime Fitness - Stay Fit, Stay Healthy, Have Fun - 1/23/11
- For Daisies, Brownies, Juniors...but will be limited to 30 girls
- Daisies 1-2:30 pm, Brownies & Juniors 3:30-5 pm
- Will involve dancing, cardio kickboxing, health, and nutrition
- Info/flyer will be posted on the blog

Parent/Daughter Game Night - for Juniors and up - January
- Watch for info on the blog

Past Events
Halloween Party
- Kids had a blast - seemed even better than last year
- Did have unregistered kids show up AT THE DOOR!  This was VERY stressful for the organizers and they don't want to be the bad guy and turn a girl away - BUT they are left scrambling for supplies and making sure that they are all set with Adult/girl ratios, snacks, insurance, etc...

Service Projects
Christian Community Service Tags
- In NR, there are 35 families in need of "toiletry gift bags".  NRGS is helping with these by taking a tag that represents one of these families and providing a bag back.
- Bags need to be returned by 12/13 to Union Congregational (details are on the tag)
- Tags are still available through Debbie Nearing

Family Services of Greater Boston Tags
- Kathleen Breslin presented take a tags for Family Services of Greater Boston.  This organization provides gifts of essentials and toys to families living in shelters, low income housing, etc..
- These gifts need to be dropped off, UNWRAPPED, to Kathleen by 12/8
- To get tags from Kathleen, contact her at kathleenbreslin@verizon.net
- To learn more about the organization, go to http://www.fsgb.org/
- Gift wrap donations are welcomed - but don't wrap the gift!  The gift must be exactly as indicated on the mitten as the recipient will not be able to exchange it.

Blog Update
- Postcards with the blog address were sent to every registered family.  New registrants will receive one once we get the update list from Council.
- Feedback is welcome.  Email anyone on the Service Team with comments, suggestions, complaints, etc...

Treasury Update
- Budget for the year - SO FAR - in good shape
- Reminder that Girl Scouts is a tax-exempt organization.  If you need a tax-exempt form with which to do your scout supply shopping, email Amy Kelly.
- Bank update: Every Citizens customer with a green checking account got the letter talking about new fees.  GSEM troop accounts should be listed as non-profits.  If you get listed as a non-profit, there are no fees.  All Citizens Bank NR Girl Scout accounts that could be identified have been changed to non-profit.  If you find that you are still getting charged, go to the branch next to Marshalls and see Jessica - she knows how to fix this.

Fall Product Update
- Fall product is coming in on 11/19; pickup on 11/20
- 7 troops participated, sold ~$3000 worth of product
- VERY easy to do, and lucrative.  Troops should keep this in mind for next year.

Cookie Update
- Cookie training is on 11/23 at the Library Activity Room from 7-8:30pm
- Booth Sales and door to door selling starts on 12/10/10
- Kerstin still needs cookie advisors for several troops!!
- Kits will be distributed on 11/23.  Check the number of girls in your kit - if this is wrong, contact Anne Valade
- Booth sale forms are due at the meeting - remind your cookie advisors.  Forms can be dropped off at Kerstin's, but early drop-off does not mean early assignment of Booth Sale date
- Cookie sales are optional at the Daisy level, however - if you want your girls to sell, set their goal at 15 boxes per girl.  This is the level which will get them a patch.
- T-shirts will be awarded at the 100 box level
- Hanscom cookie drop already closed to new registrants!  Girls can still collect cookies for the troop and bring them to the North Andover office.
- Delivery to town will be 2/11/11

Meeting called to a close at 8:55 pm

New Helpful Links!

We added 3 new helpful links for you today:
- Badge in a Bag: this is a useful site if you're really stuck on how to get going...all the planning work for a badge has been done for you and you just have to do the activities with the girls
- Making Friends: lots of crafts here
- Scouting Web: more help for those getting started or just needing a little inspiration

So...we hope these little additions are helpful.  If you run across a website that you want to share - just send it to any of the Service Team members and we'll get it put up on the blog for all to see!