What is Encampment?

Wondering what it is or what we do there? Well, here's a summary in photos...here.

Leader Meeting Minutes 2/13/19

Agenda for Leader Meeting

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Town Hall, Room 10 – 7:30 p.m.

In attendance:

Debbie Nearing, Anne Valade, Lisa Ayer, Michelle Gerokoulis, Lisa Coroa-Bockley, Amy Kelly, Amber O’Driscoll, Rebecca Lowe, Denise Kung, Kim Lambert from GSEM

Salute and Pledge to the Flag and Promise – Debbie

Opening Meeting:

• Amy Kelly’s Senior Troop 71901 worked on the Celebrating Community badge with Brownie Troop 62798. The troop viewed the town’s historic district, went to the history room at Flint Memorial Library, and taught the girls how to conduct a flag ceremony. This was the reward for collecting the greatest number of shoes to donate during Troop 71901’s shoe drive fundraiser.
• There is a North Reading town flag that was designed by Girl Scout troop 293 in 1973. It is in the Select board room at the Murphy Center Town Hall if you want to view it.
• If your company uses Benevity, they can make a donation to your troop. The donation should go through Council but should be earmarked for your troop.
• Collections for Kerstin & Registration Forms for Events
• Collations – Hillview from 4 to 6 pm for March family
• Lego Challenge Update– Denise/Lisa Ayer
• Library Activity Room Policy – no fees can be charged
• 50 girls attended. They were broken into groups of 5 to complete challenges. The girls created a maze and a zipline using Legos. Lego donated 10 mini-kits which were used as prizes and each girl received a fun patch and a ribbon to make a Lego necklace. The Lego creations were displayed in the Children’s Room of the Flint Memorial Library.
• Amazon Robotics Tour – Lisa Coroa-Bockley and Denise Kung
• Tour will take place on February 26th. There is a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 25 participants. Grade 6 and up can attend.

• Pinewood/Powderpuff Derby Event – Lisa Ayer
• Rules will be coming separately
• The event will take place on April 6th at the UCC
• Cars will be weighed and impounded two days before the event
• Lisa Ayer has cars for sale for $5
• See flyer on the blog for more information and to register
• World Thinking Day – Feb. 22^nd – Theme is Leadership – Debbie
• Celebrating ways in which Girl Scouts and sister Girl Guides become leaders and develop the power to bring changes they want to see in the world.
• Looking for Committee volunteers to plan International Event in 2020
• Encampment Committee Meeting - Debbie
• Thurs. Feb. 28th 7:00 p.m. in Library Activity Room
• Encampment questions
• Financial aid provided by NRGS SU only if troop has no funds
• Camp trainings for staying in lodge or tent
• Future informational meetings for parents – mandatory for Leaders
• GS Food Pantry update and dates in March - Amber
• Each troop level was assigned a specific food to donate
• Collection boxes are at the library, town hall, post office, Stop & Shop, the Middle School, and the Batchelder, Hood and Little.
• Mega drop will take place at Town Hall on March 30th at 9:30 am
• GS Sunday – March 10^th and Sabbath March 16 - Debbie
• Patches to Rebecca, Kristen P. and Rev. Rachel
• St. Theresa’s, Union Congregational, and Aldersgate Church
• Patches are available for a girl who attends services in other houses of worship.
• ST Meeting – Monday, March 4th - CANCELLED due to low turnout
• Fly Up for the Spring for 1^st, 3^rd, 5^th, 8^th, 10^th, 12^th grades
• Grade 8 troop to run the event – Lisa Coroa-Bockley volunteered
• GSEM – Summer Camp
• 7 different sessions are already booked – with 5 mos. left

Next Leader Meeting: Mon., March 18th at 7:30 p.m. at the LAR

Meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m.

Minutes taken by Rebecca Lowe, Reviewed and Edits by Debbie Nearing

Lifetime Membership Special Offer!

For a limited time only in April 2019, volunteers with 10+ years of experience will be able to purchase a significantly discounted Lifetime membership of $200. Kim Lambert told us at our Area SU last week, that they will NOT turn any Leader away if they want to take advantage of this discount and they have less than 10 years! This will be available as an option when reviewing your membership. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact GSEMA Customer Care.

IMPORTANT Encampent Notice!!

**IMPORTANT – It’s getting late and registrations are coming in extremely slowly at this point for The Great Outdoors Encampment. Your troop camping recap sheet and payment to attend must be received by April 1^st!  We also need your troop camping recap by April 1st so we know exactly how many adults and girls will be attending.  Your payment is confirming a spot at Encampment! Council requires us to return campsites that we will not need 6 weeks before Encampment.  We MUST return sites in mid-April and we need to figure out exactly what we need so we have enough sites for the troops registered to attend. Once we release the sites, we will not be able to get them back as Camp Runels is very popular and Council will book them on a first come basis.  Only troops registered and paid before we return the sites will be guaranteed an overnight site.  We have reattached the Flyer and Troop Recap Sheet to this email. At this point, you can either Venmo the payments or drop everything off to Debbie Nearing at 126 Central Street. Thanks!

Girl Scout Food Pantry Collection

Reminder that the Mega Drop is this Saturday, March 30^th at 9:30 p.m. at the NR Food Pantry in the Town Hall Gym.  Items should be collected at your next meeting and volunteers in charge of the bins should collect the items to bring to the Mega Drop. All troops are welcome to the Mega Drop to help sort donated items.  Please call Amber at 781-820-9707 or email her at amber.odriscoll@gmail.com with any questions! 

Annual Bridging and Fly Up Event – June 18

We now have a date for Fly Up.  Lisa Coroa-Bockley researched all the dates in late May and June for our Fly Up and the ONE date that worked best without conflicts for school, sports, or religious events was Tuesday, June 18^th.  The Fly Up and Bridging will be held at St. Theresa’s Rita Hall.  Troops in 1^st, 3^rd, 5^th, 8^th, 10^th, and 12^th grade will be receiving an email soon to confirm your attendance and participation at Fly Up.  We ask your cooperation in replying to this email ASAP so we can determine whether we need to do a separate Daisy Fly Up.  Currently we have over 100 girls eligible to fly up!  Watch for a flyer coming soon and an email from Lisa asking for troops to sign up for tasks.

Early Bird Renewal April 1 - June 7

Linked below is an overview flyer showing ALL the incentives for early registration for families, troops, service units and individual girls.  April 12^th is the first deadline for Families to sign up, May 10^th is the troop incentive, June 7^th is the Service Unit’s chance to get an incentive for NR girls who register early, and June 7^th is the incentive for early registration for girls to receive a patch.  Start asking girls NOW, please don’t wait and miss out on these discounts.  Click here for renewing gsema.org/renew.

Flyer here.

 

Memorial Day Parade Information – May 27

It’s not too early to start thinking about the Memorial Day parade which is Monday, May 27^th rain or shine at 10 a.m.  We are attaching a flyer (see below) which shows everything you need to know about the parade.  If your troop is a new Daisy troop or a level troop who may need a new banner, you will want to read the dimensions for a banner.  Also, feel free to go on Pinterest, or google ideas for Girl Scout banners.  Just remember that you don’t want the banner too heavy for the girls to carry, too long for them to trip on while walking the route, something that’s weatherproof in rain, and something that will hold up for years.  It’s the girl’s decision as to whether they create one banner and have it all 12 years or until they disband, or if they create a new banner after each level.  We will be discussing banners at the April meeting and will try to bring samples of banners. The banner will be used for parades if your troop marches and also at Fly Up ceremonies when processing in to the auditorium. Have Fun!!!

Flyer is here.

Volunteer Directory

We've created a simple volunteer directory to help you connect with other volunteers in your town, region, and council who have self-identified expertise in skills or topics of interest. Please note that GSEMA staff have not reviewed or verified volunteers' statements regarding their certification status. Join the GSEMA Volunteer Directory today. The directory will be updated monthly and posted to LEAD Online.

Adventures in Storytelling

This is an exciting program for all levels where girls will get to write and illustrate their own book with 2019 Newbury Award winning author Meg Medina. Older girls will also get to learn about editing and marketing their books. Saturday 6/15 3 to 5 pm for Daisies and Brownies 10-2 for other ages.  It will be held at Camp Cedar Hill. Log on to www.gsema.org to register for this event.

Don’t forget to check our Facebook Leader page and our NRGS blog website in the coming weeks for new information at www.northreadinggirlscouts.blogspot.com. 

NRGS T-Shirts for Sale!!!

Senior Girl Scout Troop 71901 is again offering North Reading Girl Scout T-shirts!  Proceeds from the sale will be used for a service project at Lazarus House in Lawrence.  Please see the attached flyer for details.

Flyer here.

 

Annual Bridging and Fly Up Event

Cadette Troop 85121 will be coordinating this year’s annual Bridging and Fly Up Ceremony.  This year’s theme will be “Under the Sea”!  This will be for all girls who are in the following grades: 1^st, 3^rd, 5^th, 8^th, 10^th and 12^th.   Lisa Coroa-Bockley will be sending emails to eligible participating troops in the next few weeks.  Each troop who is interested in participating will be asked to take on a task to help with the Ceremony.  More information to come on a date and location.  We are not yet sure if there will be a separate Daisy Fly Up.  It will all depend upon how many troops will be participating.  If you have any girls in your troop who have received a Bronze, Silver or Gold Medal in the past year and who needs to be recognized at Fly Up, please let us know.  

Ready, Set, Go Camping Badge Workshop – All Levels

On April 26^th from 4pm to 6pm at Camp Rice Moody in Reading, Senior Girl Scout Troop 71901 is hosting a Badge Workshop that will help girls of all levels prepare for the spring encampment and earn their camping badge.  Learn skills needed for your first camping trip.  Already been camping. . . come have fun and maybe learn a few new things.  Everyone will leave with ideas, new skills, and some supplies you can use on your camping trip.  A swap station will be part of the workshop! This is a drop off event but we ask that each troop have at least one registered/CORI’d adult attend with the troop.  This adult does not need to have any special training.  See the attached flyer for all the details.  RSVP by April 12^th.  Early registrations may be dropped off at the March 18^th Leader meeting.  

Flyer here. 

 

Girl Scouts’ Birthday – March 12th

Just a reminder that Girl Scout week is celebrated each March, starting with Girl Scout Sunday and ending with the Girl Scout Sabbath on a Saturday, and it always includes Girl Scouts’ birthday which is March 12^th!  This year the Girl Scouts movement is celebrating 107 years!  Congratulations and Happy Birthday Girl Scouts!!!

Encampment – The Great Outdoors, May 31-June 2

Attached is the flyer (here) for the Spring Encampment as well as the Leader Recap sheet (here)!  The Encampment is at Camp Runels in Pelham, NH and runs from May 31^st Friday night at 4 p.m. to June 2^nd Sunday morning at 10 a.m. Each girl needs to have a signed registration form which is attached to the flyer.  Payments and registration forms can be returned to Leaders and then dropped off at our Leader meeting in March.  The deadline to sign up is April 1^st so please don’t wait.  We added a new method of payment through Venmo and the information is on the flyer.  You must still return your registration form by April 1st if you pay by Venmo.  Leader Recap sheets are also due by April 1^st and site assignments cannot be made without the Recap sheet.  Questions? Please reach out to Debbie Nearing or Joanne Gibson.  We are in the process of setting a date for our next Encampment Committee planning meeting.

Girl Scout Sunday - THIS WEEKEND and NEXT

Girl Scout Sunday is being celebrated this weekend, Sunday, March 10^th and next Saturday, March 16^th for the Sabbath.  Any girl who attends a House of Worship this weekend or a temple on Saturday, March 16^th will receive a participation patch.  Patches will be handed out at the 9 a.m. Mass at St. Theresa’s, and the 10 a.m. Service at the UCC, and the 10:30 Service at the Aldersgate.  A photo will be taken of all the girls participating after the celebration so please let your girls know to stay for the photo.  Also, please bring a non-perishable food pantry item to Church for our NRGS food pantry drive.  Girls should wear their vests, sashes, pins, etc., and should attend St. Theresa’s 15 minutes early for designated seating in the front of the Church.  Patches will be available at the Leader meeting for girls attending another House of Worship or another time this weekend.