Leader Meeting Minutes 9/11/14

North Reading Girl Scouts

Leader Meeting Minutes 9-11-14

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; Kerstin March, Service Team Member and Cookie & Fall Product Manager; Sarah Stetson, 76213; Lynne Alley, 85336; Kate Mahoney, 71868; Stephanie Musgrave, 71868; Bridget Easler, 76212; Mary Hatton, 78181; Christy Damphousse, 85122; Rosa Maldonado, GSEM Representative for North Reading Service Unit

Meeting called to order: 7:35 pm

Pledge of Allegiance

Girl Scout Promise

Kristin Puliafico, NRGS Service Unit Coordinator

Opened the meeting and welcomed a Representative, Debbie, from the Moose Lodge who asked to speak for a few minutes about the 2015 International Moose Youth Awareness Program being held April 30-May 4, 2015 in Orlando, Florida.  HS Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors are eligible to apply and each year the Moose recommends two high school students to attend the Program.  More information can be found by contacting the North Reading Moose and asking for Debbie Cacciapuoti. 

In Barbara Gravel’s absence, Kristin, announced that there will be a New Girl Registration Event on Wednesday, September 24^th from 6:30 to 8:30 pm to be held at the Library Activity Room.  We are in need of older girls to attend who can run a few activities or do a craft with the younger girls coming in to sign up with their parent.  If you have girls who need community service hours and are in grades 5-12, please contact Kristin Puliafico at kscott1104@aol.com.   

There are about 5 or 6 troops who have volunteers stepping down this year, leaving the troop without a Leader. We are planning a Transition (troop formation) Meeting for all parents of the girls in these troops, and letters will be coming in the mail directly to each family affected.  More information will be forthcoming very soon.  The tentative date for this meeting is October 6^th. 

Reminded Leaders that they should have their troops or girls re-registered online by September 30^th to be able to participate in the new scouting year which starts October 1^st.   

Rosa Maldonado, our Service Unit Representative from GSEM

Explained that there have been many changes once again at Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts by restructuring the Membership Department.  Basically, Troop Pathway Specialists are now Recruitment Specialists, Recruitment Specialists are mobile (laptops and cell phones for all!) and Recruitment Specialists have been assigned Service Units.  The 5 former areas were realigned in July to form 15 regions.  We are Region 9 and our region includes North Reading, Reading, Andover, North Andover, Lynnfield, Peabody, Danvers, Lawrence, and Methuen.  They are hoping by reorganizing staff to support adjacent Service Units, they anticipate the ability for more sharing of resources between volunteers.  They will be introducing three regional meetings per year, with the first regional meeting on October 8^th at Camp Rice Moody in Reading, from 7:00 to 8:30 pm. for volunteers to get the training and support they need.  They suggest you register online for this meeting and carpool if able.

GSEM is also looking for adults and girls age 14 to 18 to become Regional Delegates.  There is an application online at the GSEM website, www.girlscoutseasternmass.org. 

Also spoke briefly about GSEM’s newly appointed CEO, Pat Parcellin and her qualifications. 

Kristin Puliafico, SUC

Handed out an Events Calendar for the new Girl Scout year 2014-2015 for events and meetings we hope to hold.  Of course, the events will only run if we have enough participation and volunteer adults to help us run them! 

Our first event is being held on Saturday, October 18^th and it’s a Girl’s Bowling Event.  The flyer is on the blog and the sign up deadline for this event is October 10^th. Contact person is Lisa Coroa-Bockley and her contact information is on the flyer.

The NRGS Service Unit has also decided that we will try choosing a few events from the program guide to offer to NRGS to attend as a group.  Of course, there will be limits to how many can attend so watch the NRGS blog at www.northreadinggirlscouts.blogspot.com. 

There will not be a Halloween Party this year as the troop who has been running it for many years, was not able to do so this year.  However, there are a lot of Halloween type field trips and programs being run by GSEM if you look in the Ultimate Program Guide mailed out a few weeks ago to every family with a registered Girl Scout.  Remember, individual girls can sign up for these programs and workshops; it does not have to be a “troop” event!

Speaking of Ultimate Program Guides, check out page 8 in the Guide to see all the membership benefits and discounts you can receive for different field trips, events, etc., when you register with your Girl Scout membership!  There are a few FREE events being run by GSEM as well, check out page 46, Gifts to Give; page 49 Greater Plymouth Food Distribution Center, and page 50, Holiday Cookies and Cards, which are FREE community service projects! 

Don’t forget to check out the Amazing Race Event being held in Salem this year on November 8^th.  These events fill up quickly so register early. 

Anne Valade, Treasurer

Spoke about new Leader orientation.  If anyone has a new adult volunteer who needs to be trained, please contact Anne at annevalade@comcast.net.  She will be putting together dates as to when she will be holding Orientation training.

Anne and Rosa also spoke about some tips and rules for Leaders to remember:

• Leaders need new level essentials training when they bridge to a new level of Girl Scouting
• Every troop needs at least two registered adult volunteers at each meeting or event
• Troops must have one adult trained in First Aid/CPR
• Each registered adult volunteer must be CORI’ed through GSEM if spending any time with the girls in the troop
• Troops must have one adult trained in lodge or basic camping to camp
• Every field trip or event away from your regular meeting place needs a troop activity form submitted to GSEM.  If the event is not a “dangerous” type event, you will be approved right online when you submit the form.

Debbie Nearing, Corresponding Secretary

Talked about the changes coming to the Monday emails.  Since we have a wonderful blog and blog manager, Melissa Audier, we decided to have Leaders check the blog weekly instead of sending out a weekly Monday email with the same information posted on the blog.  Emails to Leaders will be sent on an as needed basis.  The NRGS blog will be updated regularly with any upcoming and important information. 

Debbie mentioned the possibility of another Encampment in the near future since the June Encampment went so well with the younger girls, mostly who participated this year!  Leaders who attended thought it went well and girls enjoyed it.

Items that were discussed for future meetings:

• Badge workshops for levels or even town wide
• Troop level meetings were recommended by a Leader
• Kerstin and Anne would like to run a small troop camping event to give Leaders who never camped a taste of Girl Scout camping
• An updated troop directory will be sent to Leaders as soon as we have new troops formed

After updating the Leaders, we had a round table discussion with the Leaders in attendance at which time Leaders were able to ask any questions they had pertaining to their individual troop needs as well as issues of concern and how they could handle them.  This was a really informative discussion and Leaders seemed to enjoy the topics.  These open forums will be continuing at our future Leader meetings.  They will not be included in the minutes!!!

Kerstin March, Cookie & Fall Product Manager

Spoke about the Fall Product Fundraising Sale and handed out the kits to troops wanting to participate.  The Fall Products Sale goes from September 26 to October 26 this year.  NRGS will again be asking for troops or individuals to donate cans of peanuts to the Food Pantry to include in the Thanksgiving baskets!  If you would like to participate in the sale, please contact Kerstin at march.family@verizon.net.   We enjoyed lots of yummy samples of the fall products before ending our meeting.

The next Leader meeting is Thursday, November 13^th at the Moose Hall at 7:30 pm.  An investiture/rededication ceremony will be held at this meeting for all new and current Leaders and hopefully the CCS Gift Bag tags will be ready for distribution to troops!  We may even have donated troop supplies from troops who are moving on.

We hope to see you at the October 8^th Regional Meeting in Reading.  J

Meeting adjourned at 9:05 pm.

Minutes taken and Submitted by Debbie Nearing, Corresponding Secretary

in the absence of Ruth Kennedy, Recording Secretary