Attendees: Service Unit (SU) Coordinator: Amy Kelly [73897, 71901], SU Secretary: Debbie Nearing [73891], SU Registrar:Anne Valade, SU Recording Secretary: Alycia McGoldrick [73904], Little School Coordinator Barbara Gravel [71876], SU Treasurer: Julia Slavin [71872], SU Cookie Coordinator: Kerstin March [71898], Janice Gulbicki [71905], Angela Danico [71886], Amanda Heffernan [71888], Barbara Duff [71902], Karen McCullough [71905], Melissa Grew [71896], Cindy Russell [73917], Laura Wall [73903], Jan Wise [73894], Ruth Kennedy [73899], Kristin Lamont [85193, 71888, 71884], Dorothy Lehane [73899], Kate Mahoney [71868], Stephanie Musgrave [71868], Patti Harrington [71876, 85122]
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 8:15 pm
Pledge of Allegiance and the Girl Scout Promise were recited
This is the last regular meeting of the 2010-11 Scout year. At least one Monday email per month will continue through the summer, as will blog updates.
A big Thank You to all you volunteers for another successful year of scouting for North Reading!
GSEM recognized 3 members of the Service Team for their work:
- Kerstin March received an Appreciation Pin
- Debbie Nearing received an Appreciation Pin
- Anne Valade received an Honor Pin
North Reading Girl Scouts recognized 6 Leaders for their service:
- Amanda Heffernan received an Outstanding Leader Pin
- Kristin Lamont received an Outstanding Leader Pin
- Julia Slavin received an Outstanding Volunteer Pin
- Debbie Aalto recieved a Green & Growning Pin for new Leaders
- Lisa Craig recieved a Green & Growning Pin for new Leaders
- Patti Harrington recieved a Green & Growning Pin for new Leaders
GSEM recognized 2 leaders for their years of service:
- Cindy Russell received her 20 Year Pin
- Mary Lasdin received her 20 Year Pin
Lastly, we recognized those troops with Perfect Attendance at our monthly Leaders Meetings:
- Ruth Kennedy
- Laura Wall
- Kristin Lamont
THANK YOU ALL FOR THE WORK YOU DO!
Council Updates
Troop Finance Reports are due to Amy by June 15th.
Fall Sales will be 9/30-10/28/2011 with a theme of "Success for Tomorrow". There will be some new items and modified pricing for the coming sale. Training will be by troop this year - and the following dates have been announced:
9/6, 6-8:30 pm in North Andover
9/7, 6-8:30 pm in Waltham
9/8, 6-8:30 pm in Middleboro
Cookie Sales will be 12/9/11-3/9/12. Both Door to Door and Booth sales will start at the same time.
Septemberfest - 9/16-9/18 at Camp Runnels in Pelham, NH. This is an adult Leader outing. Deadline for registration is 8/12
Check it out on-line at gsseptemberfest.web.com
Leader's Great Escape - 9/30-10/2 at Camp Wabasso in Bradford, NH. This is another adult Leader outing.
100th Anniversary Camporee for grades 4-12 - 6/1-6/3/12 in Barstable.
http://www.girlscoutseasternmass.org/programs/search.html?textfield=&agelevel=&category=&zip=&date_st_month=&date_st_year=&id=8991
Service Unit Update
Finance Update - we are in good shape, but do need a couple of good town events to keep things going. We now have Bowling, Roller Skating, and Gymnastics - but all of these have some flagging interest.
We are considering buying a portable sound system for use at things like Fly Up, Encampment, Karaoke Night...
Elisabeth Chee will be in the Transcript for having earned her Gold Award! Elisabeth presented a mock trial on social drinking laws to the 8th graders at the North Reading Middle School. Congratulations to Elisabeth!
Registration Update
◊ Registrations are being collected. Even if you do it on-line, give Anne a copy of the confirmation so that she knows who has completed it.
◊ Deadline for Early Bird is 6/17
◊ Tip - If you are using your Citizens Bank Debit Card (for any payment) - use it as a credit card and you will avoid the 35 cent point of sale charge.
◊ ASAP! If your troop is disbanding, please let Anne know ASAP!
Past Events
Fly-Up
◊ Mostly positive feedback, though there were minor glitches with the lighting and sound system.
Feedback:
- Some folk were shushing the girls during the slide show! Tell the girls next year that they can shout and cheer when their photos appear!
- Setup should be done at least an hour, if not an hour and a half before the doors open. This will make it appear less chaotic and allow time to fully test the lights and sound system.
- Need older girls to tough it out and show the younger girls that they aren't embarrassed to be scouts!
- Absolutely need use of the light board is using the NR Auditorium
- Should we be getting a bigger bridge?
Memorial Day Parade
◊ Beautiful day, LOTS of girls...all went well!
June Events
Last event of the year!!
Fun & Games Night - 6/23 - for Grades 4-12
◊ Part 1: 6-7:15 Scavenger Hunt
◊ 7:15-7:45 Snack/Scoring
◊ Part 2: 7:45-8:30 Mother/Daughter "Newlywed"-type game
◊ Each troop will bring 2 dozen of something to share, beverages will be provided
◊ Flyer is here
Veterans Association Meeting
◊ Planning a 10th Anniversary Ceremony for 9/11. There may be an opportunity for Girl Scouts to participate (leading the pledge? national anthem?)
◊ Girls may be asked to attend in uniform
◊ Ruth Kennedy will pass along information as it becomes available
300th Anniversary of North Reading (2013)
◊ Would like North Parish Park to be officially recognized as "Girl Scout Park". This was the location of the DPW Town Barn. A group of leaders cleaned it up and maintenance was eventually taken over by the town.
◊ Maybe we can put in a bring rememberance garden? Memorial walkway? Could this be used as a fundraiser?
◊ Maybe we have girls bring divided plants this and next fall from their family gardens to make it more of a "friendship garden"?
◊ Could we do something around this for Earth Day? Arbor Day?
Fall Registration Event
◊ Probably not at the Apple Festival
◊ Will be putting a note in the paper looking for interested Leaders...run an info night with no commitment required
◊ Will be adding a NR-specific New Leader training in the fall to help
S.H.A.R.E. Update
◊ Still collecting envelopes - they should go to Anne Valade. It is never too late to take a donation...
◊ Still have not met town goal
Event Committee Discussion
There will be an event committee that will meet several times over the summer to try and fill out a Service Unit Event Calendar. The intent is to help Leaders with their planning, and attract more Leaders to help with an event - not run it on their own!
Ideas for the calendar:
◊ Halloween Party (this is a definite)
◊ Girl Scout Sing-along - this is to help the younger girls learn the traditional songs
◊ Fairy House Event - based on Betsy Williams offerings (check out betsywilliams.com for a great field trip idea for younger girls)
◊ Lasertag/Lazercraze
◊ World Thinking Day event - maybe tie this with an International Dance event?
◊ T-shirt design contest for 100 years of scouting
◊ Rock climbing
◊ Pool party
◊ Raingutter Regatta or Rope Runner event (check out http://roperunners.com/). This could be something that we try at an older girl encampment?
◊ Movie night (or morning after Thanksgiving movie event)
◊ Corn Maze
◊ Applefest
◊ Older girl encampment in the fall, younger girl overnight in the spring (local, just one night)
The first meeting of the committee will likely be the 12th of July.
An email will go out to the leaders, asking them to name 1 thing their troop would love to do - and the level of their troop.
That's all folks!