North Reading Girl
Scouts
Leader Meeting
Minutes 11-13-14
Moose Lodge Hall –
New Round Table Format
In attendance: Kristin Puliafico, SUC and 85118; Debbie
Nearing, Corresponding Secretary & 73891; Anne Valade, Treasurer; Melissa
Audier, Blog Manager & 73894; Barbara Gravel, Registrar & 69184; Amber
O’Driscoll, 76211; Kate Mahoney, 71868; Stephanie Musgrave, 71868; Lisa
Coroa-Bockley, 85121; Lisa Alexander, 86279; Kim Baker, 69176; Lindsay Felix,
76211; Kristen Pemberton, 69171; Cindy DeWolfe, 85336; Bridget Easler, 76212;
Joanna Maguire, 78188; Marcy Nelson, 76213; Amy Salomon, 69175; Mays Hanegraaff
78188; Theresa Craig, 85336; Andrea Bauer, 85337; Patti Harrington, 85122; Reverend
Rachel Fisher, Aldersgate United Methodist Church
Leader Meeting
called to order:
7:33 p.m.
Kristin Puliafico,
NRGS Service Unit Coordinator
Opened
the Leader meeting and welcomed our Guest Speaker, Reverend Rachel Fisher from
the Aldersgate United Methodist Church in North Reading
Reverend
Rachel Fisher, Aldersgate United Methodist Church
Rev.
Rachel Fisher shared with the group regarding two items relevant to the
Aldersgate Church (235 Park St), where she has been the Pastor for twelve
years.
·
The
first item was to state the church’s missional identity as a place to house
outside community-building groups, such as the Scouts, for little or no
cost. The church itself met for the
first 3 years of its existence at the Little School until the church building
was erected. Because of this, the church
always wishes to return the same favor and welcome to the community.
·
Secondly,
she shared that within the past year an adult child of a long-standing church
family has returned home after completing incarceration, classified as a Level
3 Sex Offender. The church has wrestled
deeply with how to extend the grace of God to this individual and his family
while keeping the community safe. To
that end, the church has drawn up an extensive and thorough Behavioral Covenant
by which this individual must abide in order to participate. He has been easy to work with and compliant
on every detail, knowing that this is one of the only groups which has welcomed
him. The church is confident that, due
to this heightened awareness, it is much safer than it was a year ago - even
with this new member in its midst.
Church leaders are mindful of the many outside groups that meet in the
church, and will work diligently to assure good communication about the safety
of the building and grounds when there are meetings with children present.
The
overall intention of Rev. Fisher’s visit was to build a bridge for open
communication on this difficult subject – regarding Scouts or as it relates to
the community generally – and to reiterate the offer to house any group that
may need safe, affordable meeting space.
She can be reached at 978-790-6492 or aldersgateumc@gmail.com
Pledge of Allegiance
Girl Scout Promise
Investiture/Rededication
Ceremony
– About 11 new Leaders were in attendance at the meeting and received their
Girl Scout Pin after Leaders participated in a “Because I said Yes” Ceremony to
dedicate and rededicate themselves to Girl Scouting.
Introduction of NRGS
Service Team Members
Members
of the Service Team addressed themselves to the Leaders –
·
Kristin Puliafico as
Service Unit Coordinator (runs the meetings and oversees all of North Reading
Girl Scouts including the Service Team),
·
Debbie Nearing as
Corresponding Secretary (sends out emails and flyers and sends out
correspondence to Leaders and parents),
·
Melissa Audier as
Blog Manager
(manages the blog and posts information and flyers to our blog at www.northreadinggirlscouts.blogspot.com)
,
·
Barbara Gravel as
Registrar
(handles registration and places new girls into troops), and
·
Anne Valade as
Orientation Facilitator (handles training the leaders and answers questions
about managing the troop) and as Treasurer
(handles all the money coming in and out of NRGS).
Service
Team members missing from the meeting were:
·
Ruth Kennedy as Recording
Secretary
(takes the minutes of Leader and Service Team meetings),
·
Kerstin March as Fall Products and Cookie Manager for NRGS
(handles the fall product sale and everything to do with the cookie season)!!!
*Reminders from the
NRGS Service Team*
·
The
Service Team directory is on the blog which will give you contact information
for each of the members on the Service Team.
You also should have a troop directory that was sent out via email which
shows all the troops and the leaders’ contact information.
·
ALL
LEADERS must sign a Volunteer Agreement. This can be found on the GSEM website.
·
Every
troop needs to have an 01 Leader and an 02 assistant Leader.
- Every troop needs one trained
Volunteer and at least one additional registered adult at each meeting or
event.
·
Every
troop needs to have at least 2 trained Leaders.
Council states at least 1 but if that trained leader cannot attend an
event with the troop, then the girls cannot attend.
·
Leaders
must take Girl Scouting 101 (online), Orientation training either through Anne
Valade or Council (GSEM) and Essentials training for the level they are working
with. Some Essentials level trainings
are online.
·
There
are trainings available on the GSEM website for First Aid & CPR and Camping
- Each registered adult volunteer
must be CORI’ed through GSEM if spending any time with the girls in the
troop
Business
Cookies – In Kerstin’s absence, Kristin Puliafico
talked about the upcoming cookie sale.
Cookie selling kits have been handed out at the Cookie Advisor trainings
and the cookie sale begins on December 12th. Contact Kerstin if you did not get your
cookie kit. Kerstin will be in touch
with the Cookie Advisors about signing up for booth sales. You
can get more detailed information about cookies from your cookie advisor. Girls can go door to door with actual boxes
of cookies. Remember that an adult must
accompany every Girl Scout who sells door to door. Cookie delivery is February 3rd
but we do not have a time, just that the pick-up will be at Rockingham Park in
Salem, NH! Contact is Kerstin at march.family@verizon.net.
Caroling on the Common – December 14 from
3:00 to 4:30, Anne Valade talked about this event being a “girl” event with
enough adults for each troop to attend for safety guidelines. There will be a half hour of singing, a short
walk from the Common to the Congregational Church for cocoa and cookies, and a
Service Project for girls to make holiday cards to give to the Senior Center’s
Meals on Wheels. Girl should bring a
flashlight. Registration forms and flyer can be found on the NRGS blog and can
be turned in at the December 4th Social or dropped off to Anne. Melissa Lally will be emailing song books to
each troop in advance so troops can learn the carols. Contact is Anne at annevalade@comcast.net.
Registration Information – Barbara talked
about a Recruitment Night for second graders coming up. No date is set yet. We are looking to recruit 2nd
grade Leaders as well as we have 4 girls with no troop as the existing troops
are large enough. If a parent approaches
you to join your existing troop, remember we have a chain of command to follow
and they must contact Barbara Gravel to register. To be considered a “Troop”, there must be a
minimum of 5 girls registered to that troop.
It’s never too late to register!
Contact is Barbara at barbgravel@msn.com.
Mitten Tags for CCS – Debbie Nearing
handed out mitten tags and bags for toiletry/household type family items. The information for the date to be returned
is on the back of the mitten tag and there was an instruction sheet also
supplied as well as a reusable holiday bag to fill for your “adopted”
family. These items are NOT to be
wrapped and the mitten tag should be secured on the bag prior to drop off to
identify the family.
We still
have 8 mittens that need a home.
If
you did not attend the meeting and would like a mitten, please contact Debbie
ASAP. If you have a mitten and would
like another or are a family and would like a mitten, we would be glad to give
you another. We don’t want to let down
CCS so we are hopeful we can fill all 35 of these bags! Contact is Debbie at bcednearing@comcast.net.
Leader’s Holiday Social – December 4th
at 7:00 p.m. at the Ginger Gourmet. The
NR Service Unit will fund the appetizers and Leaders are responsible for their
drinks. An evite was sent out; please
respond by 11/27. Caroling on the Common
registration forms will be collected at this meeting. Adults only!!!
Contact is Kristin Puliafico at 978-664-3259 or kscott1104@aol.com.
Journey Moment – A Journey moment is an activity or game
from one of the Journey books that you can use at a troop meeting or any other
time you have Leaders or girls. We did a
journey moment where we tossed a ball to random Leaders in a circle. When you had the ball, you said your name and
the level of scouting you had, and what was your goal for this year. It was a lot of fun!
Round Table
Discussions
We
had a table for Daisies, Brownies, Juniors, and one for Cadettes and up where
Leaders talked about anything they wanted to know. Questions were answered and information was
shared by level. This was a lot of fun.
For the upcoming
Meetings
We
are working on putting reference books for all levels in the NR Library – more
to come on this
Look
for more information coming soon on Mystery Workshops
We
will be bringing back monthly Leader meetings as opposed to every other
month!!!
More
Open Forum Round Table discussions
Door Prizes were drawn and free
troop information and donated supplies were available for Leaders to take.
Thanks
to Kristin Puliafico for her wonderfully baked frosted trefoil sugar cookies!
Meeting adjourned: 9:15 p.m.
Minutes taken and
Submitted by Debbie Nearing, Corresponding Secretary
in the absence of
Ruth Kennedy, Recording Secretary
