Upcoming Events

UPCOMING EVENTS
Next Leader Meeting in Feb - TBD

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Booth Sale Signups posted

You can find the Cookie Booth Sale Sign-ups on the blog now!  Just check out the Pages on the right hand side...

If you'd like to grab one of the open slots - contact Kerstin March at march.family@verizon.net.

Good luck to all!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Journeys Explained

Does the whole "Journey" thing confuse you?

Here is a brief video to help un-confuse!

http://www.youtube.com/girlscoutvideos#p/c/0/ccjzljjeLek

Leader Meeting Minutes - 11/15/11

Attendees: Service Unit (SU) Coordinator: Amy Kelly [73897, 71901], SU Recording Secretary: Alycia McGoldrick [73904], Little School Coordinator Barbara Gravel [71876], SU Treasurer: Julia Slavin [71872], SU Cookie Coordinator: Kerstin March [71898], SU Registrar Anne Valade, Kristin Puliafico [85118], Kristin Lamont [85193, 71880], Nancy Vadala [71874], Dawn Garthier [71890], Lynne Alley [85336], Janice Sarno [85121, 71872], Mary Lasdin [71871, 71893], Janice Gulbicki [71905], Ruth Kennedy [73899], Sue Kirby [73899], Susanne Rech [85336], Karen Mericantante [85335], Deb White [65374], Brenda Wilde [65374], Patti Harrington [71876], Jan Wise [73894]

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 7:55 pm

An investiture/re-dedication ceremony was held to welcome our new leaders and re-dedicate ourselves to our role as leaders.  Welcome to: Karen Mericantante,
Brenda Wilde, Deb White, Lynne Alley, Susanne Rech, and Kym Fischer!

There are still a few leaders that need to renew their Cori's. There will be an email going out to remind those of you that are out of date.

We are trying to get more info about the 100th Anniversary Camporee in June - and will post what we have to the blog. You will need a Troop Camp Certified Adult and a First Aider - so plan ahead and make sure that if you need training, you sign up early!

A Younger Girl Encampment is being planned for Camp Cedar Hill in the spring. We are waiting for confirmation on the reservation in April. Again - to stay overnight you'll need a Troop Camp Certified Adult and a First Aider. Daisies are not eligible to stay overnight, but can attend all activities on Saturday.

Just a reminder to check the Monday email - we use this tool to get updated info out in a timely manner and so there may be things that need attention quickly!

We are still working on getting a 100th anniversary t-shirt design finalized!

There are winter Council offerings:
Camp Reunion for 4 residential camps (Wabasso, Runels, Favorite, Wind-In-The-Pines) - 1/22/12
Indoor Climbing Wall for grades 4-10, 12/17, 12/18 at Wind-In-The-Pines, Plymouth
Winter Hiking Club Series for grades 6-12, beginning 1/12
Winter Vacation Camp for grades 6-12, 2/20-2/24, Camp Wabasso
Learn to Climb Series for grade 4-8, beginning 2/4 at Wind-In-The-Pines, Plymouth
Advanced Learn to Climb Series for grade 9-12, beginning 2/4 at Wind-In-The-Pines, Plymouth

Brownie Badge Workshops in February at Camp Rice Moody
More information can be found at www.girlscoutseasternmass.org


Sandy Griffin (a Scout leader) can offer yoga classes at her studio at Crossroads Plaze (Suite 10) for groups of 10 or fewer 6th grade and up girls on Wednesday-Saturday evenings or Boot Camp on Saturday mornings. Cost is $8 per girl. An activity form is required by the leader...
If interested, contact Sandy for more information at
sandra.griffin@rocketmail.com
 
Fall Registration Update
We are just about at the end! Thank you all for taking girls into your troop - all girls have been placed.

If you find that you have a girl who can't make meetings due to a regular conflict - she can be moved to another troop if that would work better for her. Contact Anne Valade annevalade@comcast.net, Janice Sarno (Hood School) janl88@aol.com, or Barbara Gravel (Little) barbgravel@msn.com.

Cookie Info
Cookie Advisor Training was held last week.
The order database is new this year - but it is the same as the Fall Product Sales database (same username and password if you've already set that up).

Booth sale requests started 11/15.  Assignments will be sent out later this week and will also be posted on the blog.
This year's cookies are the same as last. This year's theme is "What Can A Cookie Do" and the theme animal is a penguin.Door to door cookie sales will be 12/9-1/20 this year. Booth sales can run until 3/9. Cookies will be delivered to the town on 2/10.
If you had girls drop from your troop - you'll need to get the updated info to Anne Valade.  If the inactive girls stay on your troop roster, they will add in to your troop goals.
Daisy participation is optional.
If you want to sell at public locations, there are steps to be followed, depending on the location.  Mall locations are assigned through Council.  Selling on Tufts campus, for example, requires Council approval, Tufts approval, and letting Kerstin know so that she can make a courtesy call to the Medford Cookie Coordinator.
New leaders - YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE THE COOKIE ADVISOR for your troop.  This is the perfect opportunity to get another troop mom involved!Any questions - contact Kerstin March  march.family@verizon.net .

Fall Product Sales
11 troops participated in Fall Product Sales, met all the deadlines, and earned a total of $5361! This was about double the participation and double the revenue of last year! The Service Unit earned 2% ($107) AND 15 Honey Roasted Peanuts will be donated to the North Reading Food Pantry. Shauna will be contacting the leaders when the product arrives (any day now).

Past Events

Halloween Party went well and everyone seemed to have a great time!  Thanks to everyone who pitched in.  The girls running the event really rose to the challenge and it was great to see how they went from wanting to attend to being proud of the job that they did!

Astronomy Night - 43 girls attended.  The presenter was very enthusiastic and "awesome".  Every girl got an opportunity to look through the telescope and even enjoyed being on a college campus while they waited for their turn.
As an FYI, the telescope is open to anyone every Wednesday night with good weather from 7-10pm.

Future Events
Gingerbread House Workshop - 12/4 - currently open to Brownies, but opening up to Juniors in order to meet the numbers.  Limit is 40 girls - goal is 30 girls.  Cutoff day will be extended to meet goals.

Caroling - 12/7, 12/8, 12/9
Times will be set up for drop in caroling at local nursing homes, Elderly Housing, McGlaughlin House, etc...
This is open to all levels.  It would be useful to practice with the younger girls ahead of time.  It has also been helpful in the past if leaders bring boomboxes and music to play in the background...

Fancy Nancy has been moved to at least January.

Service Project Ideas
Meals on Wheels tray decorations sign ups are now available on the blog.  Please sign up to provide 40 small, non-edible, tray decorations for the Meals on Wheels recipients.
Bring Back the 4th is looking for groups that might want to participate.

300th Anniversary committee is also looking for groups to participate throughout 2012.

Christian Community Service Gift Bags - sign ups were made available at the Leader's Meeting.  These sign ups included a mitten tag to provide information on the children of the family in need so that items can be chosen with the children in mind. Gift bags are due back to Union Congregational on 12/13.  There are more mitten tags available if you can sign up for one.  Contact Amy Kelly kellys@majekelly.com.