Leader Meeting – 1/12/2017 at Flint Memorial Library
In attendance: Debbie Nearing, Service
Unit Coordinator and (73891); Jo Gibson, SU Cookie Manager
and (62548, 69175); Anne Valade, Fall Product Manager; Melissa
Audier, Blog Manager and (73894); Karianne Bekier (62803); Denise Kung
(62798)
Meeting start time: 7:40 p.m.
·
Anne distributed t-shirts to troop Leaders whose
girls earned them in the Fall Product Sale fundraiser. The Town earned
$90 to go into our town service unit account.
·
Cookie update – delivery will be at Agfa near
Target like it was last year, 9-12:30, Sun Jan 22nd. Email Jo if you have cookies you want to get
rid of and can’t sell. She can contact other troops to see about
transferring them. Debbie noted the
cookie recognitions opt out form has the wrong fax number on it. This is the
form that you download from the GSEM website. She notified Travis at
GSEM. This form is due by February 1st for Cadette troops and older who
want to opt out of prizes in the cookie sale and would rather get an additional
5 cents a box of cookies sold.
·
Jessica Blanchette and Karianne Bekier have
volunteered to help organize the Father-Daughter Field Day event in April. More
information to follow – Lisa A. will follow up with them.
·
World Thinking Day – we are going to skip having
a town wide event this year. Debbie and Lisa emailed out ideas for troops to
celebrate on their own in a Monday email. The theme for 2017 is
“Grow”. If your girls participate in any World Thinking Day activities
(log onto www.wagggs.org/en), they can
earn their WAGGGS pin (blue and yellow pin which goes below their GS pin on
their vest, sash, or blouse.
·
Jan 16th – Reading Girl Scouts
invited us to their ice skating event at Burbank Arena on Monday, January 16th
– flyer is on the NRGS blog website – Get there early for skate rentals.
·
Girl Scout Sunday will be celebrated on March
12th which is also Girl Scout Day. GS Sunday patches will be distributed at
several churches in town (St Theresa’s, UCC, Aldersgate). Any girl
attending any House of Worship (including a Temple) on March 11th or March 12th
can receive a Girl Scout patch. Leaders should email Lisa Alexander or
come to the March Leader meeting to get a patch. Lisa will be sending out
letters to the Houses of Worship and will send Melissa the flyer for the blog
and attach it to a Monday email coming soon. Lisa A. will order patches.
·
Amy Kelly’s troop is looking to run a Night of
Beauty in March. More information to come.
·
Food Pantry drive will be held in March for the
North Reading Girl Scouts and Melissa Audier and her Ambassador Troop 73894
will be coordinating it again this year. Boxes will be distributed to all
the elementary schools as well as other places in town to be announced.
·
Fly Up is going to be coordinated by Amy Kelly’s
8th grade troop this year; and will be held late June since they will be in DC.
There will be a separate Daisy fly up ceremony with more information to come
and this is because of the number of Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards we will
have to recognize at Fly Up as well as the number of troops/girls graduating
and Bridging to Adults. Girls in 1st grade, 3rd grade, 5th grade, 8th grade,
10th grade and 12th grade are all eligible to fly up and participate in the
Annual Town Wide Fly Up Ceremony. We are hoping to have it again at the
International Church but Amy Kelly will be our contact.
·
Reminder Daisy troops are asked to bring their
troop banners to their Fly Up ceremony so this may be a good time to create one
if you don’t already have one. Jo Gibson volunteered to help run Daisy Fly Up
if we need someone as she attended last year.
·
Encampment – cutoff is end of January for voting
on the theme using Survey Monkey. Troops should only vote once as a
group. Encampment Committee will get together, decide on a theme and send
out flyer and registration form hopefully all by end of February! Look up
ideas for “sit upons” online for ideas on how to make these for
encampment (good activity for younger troops, reusable at other events for
sitting upon). Anne brought in a few sample Kaper Charts to show Leaders which
can be used at encampment or weekly troop meetings to keep girls accountable
and responsible. You can do an overnight
with your troop leading up to encampment, to get your troop ready for the
weekend campout. In past years you could do a sleepout at the library but you
need to check to see if this is still offered. There’s also a Girl Scout
sleepover event at the Museum of Science. Other ideas: Rice Moody, Maude Eaton.
For lodge or outdoor camping, an adult in charge needs special camp
certification. Look at the activity guide – trainings should start in the
spring again.
·
Debbie will be sending out via email and snail
mail the Founder Award Scholarship applications to ten graduating senior
Ambassador North Reading Girl Scouts.
·
Debbie printed out copies of a new Activity Girl
Permission form for 2016-2017 to show Leaders. This is required for
individual events not at your normal meeting space, nor within walking distance
of it (both of which are covered by the Annual Permission Form). Make
sure you are having permission forms completed for each field trip and that you
bring the annual permission form with you wherever you go.
Meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m.
Minutes taken by Denise Kung in the Secretary’s
absence and reviewed and edited by Debbie Nearing
