Leader Meeting Minutes 4/11/16

April Leader Meeting

Room 10, NR Town Hall – April 11, 2016

Meeting Start: 7:40 pm

In attendance: Debbie Nearing 73891, Michelle Gerokoulis 62796, Lisa Ayer 62798, Kerri Antonuccio 62803, Karianne Bekier 62803, Joanne Gibson 69175, Kristin Puliafico 85118, Amber O'Driscoll 76211, Melissa Audier 73894, Ruth Kennedy 73899, Lisa Coroa-Bockley 85121, Mays Hanegraaff 78188, Dawn Gonthier 71890, Amy Kelly 73897, 79107, Jenn Vant 85337, Kate Mahoney, 71868 Stephanie Musgrave 71868

Pledge of Allegiance and Girl Scout Law

Debbie ran tonight’s meeting in Anne’s absence and thanked all the volunteers mentioning that this is Leader/Volunteer Appreciation week for Girl Scouts.

Leader Appreciation:

Ruth made special packets for each leader in attendance with flower seeds, chocolate kisses, candy lifesavers, and a nice poem. Thank you to all our leaders and volunteers and thank you Ruth for assembling the gifts! It's nice to have the girls make a card or a token to give to the volunteers in your troop, such as a hardworking cookie mom or dad.

Outstanding Volunteer Nominations:

If you have a volunteer you would like recognized or a leader you feel deserves to be recognized as an outstanding volunteer and you would like to nominate her or him, contact Debbie Nearing before May 15th. 

GSEM President’s Award for North Reading Service Unit:

The North Reading Service Unit was recently nominated and endorsed by their peers and the selection was approved by the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors to receive the GSEM President’s Award for 2016.  We were one of 6 Service Units who were selected out of 178 in our region!  We qualified because we met our membership goals this year placing all the girls and we went above and beyond by increasing our numbers for adults and girls. There is an award luncheon in Framingham at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center on May 14th.  Check in starts at 11 and the event starts promptly at noon.  Council will allow 4 of us from the ST to attend and then we will pay for the others from the Service Unit Account if they want to attend.  Not everyone from the ST is available that day but half of the ST will be attending to receive their award and if any Leader or Volunteer is interested, you should go online with GSEM ASAP to sign up.  It’s $25 a person but space is limited.  The GSEM Award Letter is being posted to the blog!

GSEM Appreciation Pin:

We would also like to congratulate Kristin Puliafico who has also been nominated and endorsed by her peers to receive the GSEM Appreciation Pin at the GSEM Awards and Recognitions Luncheon the same day.  Kristin will also be a free guest for lunch and that is one less on the ST who we will need to pay for if all want to attend.  Kristin received this award for all of her dedication to the Service Team in not only serving as the Service Unit Coordinator but for taking on multiple roles on the ST and running events.  Congratulations!

Cookies-n-Canvas is April 21.

Last day for forms is the 14th. Please get in touch with Lisa Alexander with any forms.

Update:  Only 20 have signed up so there is room for older girls if anyone wants to invite older girls to attend.  **Please contact Lisa Alexander ASAP.**

Encampment:

We have 14 troops registered as of tonight. The encampment committee will meet next week on Thursday, April 21, at 7:30 p.m. to discuss more particulars. The meeting is at Lisa Alexander’s house. Debbie will get the info out to all leaders as soon as she sorts through the envelopes. 

Update:  We have approximately 47 day campers and 38 overnight campers.  Unless we get more participation in the next few days, we will be returning most of the tent sites on April 22nd and just keeping the 2 Yurt Sites and Health Lodge with day use for the Dining Hall and this should be enough to hold the overnight and day troops.  This encampment will be about the same number who attended in spring 2014. 

The theme is a luau and Kerstin is canoe and waterfront certified and we will have swimming and hopefully canoeing. We may have a Kona ice truck or even hula dancers as well as an outdoor activity for older girls, but it all depends on the cost.   Daisies usually come for the day around 9 a.m. and stay until 5 p.m.  On Friday night, the girls staying can make s’mores and hike and explore the camp as there is no scheduled activities.  This is a good opportunity for troops to work on badges, SWAPs, journey’s or just bond with one another.

If any girl needs to leave the camp and come back, please see Debbie or Kerstin and let them know so we know at all times who is in and out of the campsite. You will need to bring your own wood more than likely as last year there was not any wood, but all of these things will be addressed in a few weeks. 

These were just questions that were asked at the Leader meeting and answered on the spot.  We also mentioned that we would look at doing the SWAPS event at a time convenient for those girls who have sports and need to leave and come back, probably around lunch time.

S.W.A.P.S. for Encampment:

Time to think about SWAPS! Swaps are “some whatchamacallits affectionately pinned on someone” (little tokens each girl can make to hand to another girl at camp). They are fun to make and girls enjoy exchanging with other girls.  Look at www.makingfriends.com, Pinterest or www.swaps4less.com for ideas or kits to purchase at a small cost. 

Each girl can make as little or as many as they exchange one for one for encampment. Most girls do between 10 and 15.  However many you make, you will trade and get that amount back.

Scavenger Hunt:

May 22nd from 5-7pm at the UCC.  Anne sent an email to some troops and asked if the older girls are interested in this event. If there is not enough interest, the event may be cancelled. Troops, in Grades 6-12, please get back to Anne ASAP if you are interested.

Memorial Day Parade:

Please do not throw candy. Your troop can hand out flowers, flags or something similar. If the troop is not participating, all girls are still welcome to march with the other Scouts or a parent.  Wear uniforms, sashes, GS pins, etc. 

Start working on your banner which can be for a specific level or for the entire 12 years with changing names as the years go on.  Use something sturdy that will hold up in inclement weather as we march rain or shine.  Also, use some kind of ink that won’t run if it gets wet.  The banner should not be too heavy on a pole or too long for the girls to trip when they carry it in the parade.

Troop Financial Reports:

Due to Lisa Alexander sometime in June but no later than June 30th.  Typically, reports and bank statements are turned in at our June 15th Leader meeting.

It is perfectly fine to end your financial report as of May 31st since bank statements for June won’t be released by June 15.

Council would prefer you don't keep a lot of funds in your account and if you have funds, especially more than $200, that are unused as of June 30th, you need to attach an explanation of what your troop is planning to do with the money and when you will plan on using it.  If you are saving for an activity or a trip, please write what you are saving for.  Remember that you can pay for the girls to reregister with the troop funds or pay half and have the parents pay half.  It should be a decision you make with the girls.

Remember too that the money doesn’t belong to the girls but rather the troop. Each year, the troop stays the same with the same troop number and you go forward with those funds to start the new year October 1st. 

Although the Girl Scout membership year is 9/30, you can still reregister in the early bird registration which is open online now.

Year End Gathering for Volunteers/Leaders:

We would like to have a year end event June 15 for the Leaders and Volunteers. The ST was wondering how much interest there would be in attending this event.  The ST would provide the adult refreshments and food. 

Update: The leaders in attendance at the April Leader meeting said they would attend and liked the idea of having a social at a Leader’s home as we have done in the past.  More info to come on this!

Amy: Early Bird Registration:

Starts at the end of April. Council has changed from Ebiz and you have to set up a new login and password and you should have received an email to do this. There will be no more paper registrations, everything will be done online.

New families joining GS will be able to go online and see what troops they can join and pick and sign up by the day/time convenient for them. For new Daisies, parents can choose by school. Also, folks can decide to be a volunteer of these new troops right their online and council will contact them with the necessary procedures to go forward with those girls in their troop.

The troops will now have 12 girl slots with an open capacity for more girls if a new scout signs up for your troop.  You can no longer choose to have less than 12 girls if a parent signs up their child to be part of your troop.  GSEM would contact you directly once a girl signs up for your troop so you are aware.  

There is now an 800 number for all questions you have and you WILL receive a LIVE person to speak with and you won’t have to wait any longer for a response. The number is online with GSEM as well as in our latest Monday email.

Membership Star Discs:

Can everyone bring to the next May Leader meeting any colored plastic discs that go behind the membership stars that you have left over from other levels from your troop?

Cookie incentives should be here the end of April.

NRGS Food Pantry Collection:

NR Food Pantry wrote a nice thank you note thanking the girls for all the food they collected. Girl Scouts collected over 700 lbs. of food for the pantry in March. Thank you so much.

Meeting end: 8:50 pm which included Fly Up information from Kate, Stephanie and Dawn.