Congratulations to our Older Girl Troops

• Congratulations to our older girl troops who bridged and flew up to a new level of Girl Scouts last Wednesday evening and congratulations again to our 11 graduating senior Ambassador Girl Scouts who flew up to adults. 
• Congratulations to Amy Kelly and Jodi Sponzo who received the “Soaring through the Ranks” award which is for leading a troop from Daisy to Ambassadors.  This is the first time we have presented this award since it’s inception in 2010. 
• Also, congratulations to Claire Bailey, Jessica Kelly and Ashley DeSousa for completing their take action projects and being presented with their Gold Award pin and certificates by a Council Representative from GSEM
• Congratulations to Jessica Kelly for receiving the 2017 NRGS Founder Award Scholarship. 
• Finally, congratulations to three volunteers who were awarded the Volunteer of Excellence pin for going above and beyond their troop service: Amber O’Driscoll, Jennifer Vant, and Amy Kelly and to Melissa Audier who received the Council Appreciation Pin recently at the annual GSEM awards luncheon.
  
  
•  Found after Fly Up: a bridging patch, a pair of purple sunglasses and a Sports Fun day patch.  You can claim them Wednesday night at our Leader/Encampment meeting

  If you Fly Up to a new level this year, you will need to take the next level Essentials .  Trainings are online all summer into September. You can also find Girl Scout Reference Books including Journeys for each level in the children’s room in the Flint Memorial Library.  These are for reference only and are to be kept in the Library.
  

  
  

Little Free Library

The little free library is a community book exchange project where people are encouraged to "take a book, leave a book".  Brownie Troop 69175 and Daisy Troop 62548 created a Little Free Library right here in North Reading.  Landrey Fagan (one of the Daisy parents) donated the book box and both troops painted tiles with an outdoor theme at Look What I Made. These tiles were used to decorate the sides of the library. The library can be found on the porch of Ryer's General Store. Info on little free libraries can be found at littlefreelibrary.org.

Go check out the library and bring a book along to donate, it can be for children or adults.

 

 

Congratulations Graduating Seniors!!

Congratulations to our graduating Senior Ambassador Girl Scouts:

Ariana Romeo, Ashley DeSousa, Brooke Sponzo, Carly Sponzo, Claire Bailey, Emily Humphreys, Jessica Kelly, Joanna Keaton, Julia Kushakji, Kimberly Bockley, and Nicole Shedd. 

 

Also congratulations to our first grade Daisy troops who flew up last week and became Brownies and to the following Volunteer Troop Leaders of less than 2 years who received the GSEM Green and Growing Award Pin at the Daisy Fly Up Ceremony for going above and beyond service at their troop level by helping to coordinate and participate in one of our NRGS Service Unit events: the International World Thinking Day Event, The Caroling Event and the Father Daughter Fun Sports Day Event--

Jessica Blanchette, Kerri Antonuccio, Karianne Bekier, Michelle Gerokoulis, and Denise Kung who also took minutes at the Leader meetings on occasion.  

Fall Encampment Updates!

 We have received quite a few registration forms for the Encampment being held at Camp Runels in Pelham, NH on September 8-10 and wanted to let you know that if you have not considered attending with your troop, there is still time to register.  Currently there are 58 confirmed girls registered to attend and another 12 committed to attend for a total of 70 girls.  Most of the troops registered to attend want to stay overnight, a couple of troops for both nights!  We still have a lot of room for day campers and can still accommodate overnight campers before we return the unused sites we reserved.  We are also sending the attached Flyer and a brief email to all registered parents of NR Girl Scouts to make sure all girls are aware of this event.  Once supplies and patches are ordered this summer and sites are returned, we will not be able to add girls if they decide to attend after that time.

We are reaching out to all of the troops who have not responded who may be interested or may consider in just attending for the day.  DID YOU KNOW...

• In the fall, your Girl Scout level will be a year ahead of your current level.  Current 1st grade Daisies, will be 2nd grade Brownies and can attend overnight! 
• When you reach a new level in the fall, your adult to girl ratio will change requiring less adults to attend for safety.
• Any girl currently registered with NRGS can attend, even if she is not continuing on in Scouting as she is covered and registered until September 30, 2017.
• Girls can attend for the day even if their troop and Leader is not attending.  We will have adult coverage for day campers without a troop.
• Day campers can come for the day at 9 a.m. and leave at 5 p.m. and pay just $6 for a fun filled day with friends and girls of all ages.
• There will not be another Encampment until the year 2019 and that is only if we have the volunteers to step up to run it. 
• So, come swim (weather permitting) canoe (age restrictive), play games, make crafts, trade SWAPS, enjoy a scavenger hunt, create fairy houses, eat s’mores and get a custom patch!

If you are signed up to attend Encampment, we will have an Encampment meeting on Wednesday, June 28th at 7:00 p.m. at the Flint Memorial Library.  Please come to this meeting to receive your site assignment and pertinent paperwork which you will need prior to check in at Encampment.  

If you are sharing a site because you are not camp certified, you WILL NEED to meet during the summer with the other troops staying at your campsite  to discuss meals, sleeping arrangements, etc. 

The Encampment Flyer can be found here  and the Recap sheet that must be completed if you are attending overnight can be found here.  Every registered girl must have a parent complete the permission form on the bottom portion of the Encampment Flyer and return it with your payment.  You may drop off registration permission forms and money to Debbie Nearing by the final deadline of June 23rd in the following ways:

• at her home mailbox at 126 Central Street in North Reading no later than June 22nd,
• drop off at the Flint Memorial Library Activity Room on Monday, June 12th from 7:15 to 9:00 p.m.,
• drop off at the Flint Memorial Library Activity Room on Wednesday, June 15th from 6:15 to 7:30 p.m.,
• bring them to the Fly Up Ceremony being held on Wednesday, June 21st at St. Theresa’s Parish Hall from 6:30 to 8.

Anyone wanting to help out this summer on the Encampment Committee with planning the activities, games, and creating a patch, contact Debbie Nearing by June 23rd at bcednearing@comcast.net. 

Don’t miss out on the fun this September!!!!

North Reading Girl Scouts Encampment Committee

Clean Up at Veteran's Memorial 5/20/17

Service Project!! Ruth Kennedy is organizing the clean up of the Veteran's Memorial at North Parish Park on rt. 62. Any Girl Scout is welcome to come plant a flower and help spruce up the garden. The memorial is a small raised bed put in by a NR Girl Scout as her Gold Award project to honor our Veterans. Please bring your trowel, work gloves and a potted geranium to plant. Last year, WalMart had geraniums for about $1.50. Geraniums are tolerant to dry conditions, which is necessary in this planting spot. Please come at 9:30 on Saturday May 20. RSVP here so I'll have an idea of who may be coming. I'll bring a few shovels as well. Thank you for helping make NR beautiful for Memorial Day!

Monster Jam Gillette – Scout tickets from GSEM 6/10/17

From Meg Blanchard, Group Sales Manager, FELD Entertainment, P:1-857-400-8608, E: mblanchard@feldinc.

To purchase your Scout Tickets for June 10 please click on the link below and read all of the information CAREFULLY. What this link does is allow you to purchase tickets to the show and then invite the rest of your Troop family and friends to purchase as well and the link will magically make sure you’re all sitting together! This prevents large groups from having to collect money to purchase in one transaction.

In years prior, we had scouts who were unable to attend the pit party, so we have moved forward with creating multiple price levels where you can add on a pit party ticket if you so choose! All show day scout event times, with the exception of the pit party, will be TBD up until week of show.

For scout event updates: continue to check back to the purchase link!

Purchase Links:

Click this link, https://www.fevo.com/edp/Monster-Jam--Girl-Scouts-of-Eastern-Massachusettes-0hWM56iG, if you’re with the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts! 

Fall 2017 Encampment "Super Powered Girls!" 9/8-9/10

Our "Super Powered Girls" encampment, where girls can test their strength, smarts, and the ability to conquer an obstacle course in the blink of an eye, starts on Friday, September 8th at 5 p.m. and ends on Sunday, September 10th at 10 a.m.  Troops have the option of staying one or two nights or coming for the day, except Daisies can only attend for the day on Saturday, September 9th.  Girls staying overnight pay only $15 to cover one or two nights and adults pay $5 to stay overnight, while any girl attending for the day pays $6 and adults coming for the day only do not pay a fee.  **Please NOTE, new this year, per GSEM, ALL adults whether they attend for the day or overnight, MUST submit a CORI and be a registered Girl Scout. If girls or adults are registered for the 2016-2017 year, they are covered until September 30th!  Please find the flyer here.

Please note that the deadline to register for the Fall Encampment is June 2.    All Troop Leaders must also complete the Recap sheet found here and return it by that date, designating who is attending and what accommodations  they will need.   

 

Memorial Day Parade 5/29

Memorial Day Parade on May 29th.  We will be lining up at 9:45am in the Senior Center parking lot.  Remember your troop banner.  If you'd like more information about the parade and about making your troop banner, you can find it here.  Remember - any Girl Scout can march, even without her troop.

Fly Up Ceremonies for Daisys and for Girl Scouts Brownies through Ambassadors 2017

North Reading will host two separate Fly Up ceremonies this year.  The Daisy Fly Up ceremony will be on Monday, June 5th, at 6:30pm.  It will take place at Aldersgate United Methodist Church.  Please see the invitation here.

The Brownie through Ambassador Fly Up ceremony will be on Wednesday, June 21st at 6:30.  It will take place at St. Theresa's Parish.  Please see the invitation here.

Registration and Membership Fee Increase 2017

Registration

On Tuesday, April 4, the Girl Scout Spring Renewal period opens for Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts members. Spring Renewal is managed through Volunteer Systems (the My GS link in the navigation bar of gsema.org) and runs from Tuesday, April 4 through Tuesday, June 13.  Service units, troops and girl members who renew during this period are eligible for awesome incentives!   The PDF overview of incentives can be found here.

Membership Fee Increase

To ensure Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts is able to continue to provide exceptional girl programming and outstanding volunteer support, we will increase our service council fee by just $5, beginning with spring renewal for the 2017-2018 Girl Scout membership year. The council service fee will be $15 per girl membership. There is no service fee for adult members. As always, financial assistance is available for any girl whose family demonstrates need.  This increase will go into effect concurrently with a membership fee increase announced by Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) last year. GSUSA announced a National Board-approved increase in the girl and adult membership fee from $15 to $25 effective for the 2017-2018 membership year.  Every dollar of the membership fee goes directly to Girl Scouts of the USA to cover the cost of fundamental services supporting the Girl Scout Movement. This includes, but is not limited to, accident insurance for members participating in approved Girl Scout activities; the implementation of new technologies to improve the Girl Scout experience for girls, volunteers, and parents; program development, research, resources, training, services to councils, and promotion of the Girl Scout brand.  Therefore, with these increases in place, the new annual cost for Girl Scout membership in eastern Massachusetts will be $40 per girl, and $25 per adult member. Girl membership continues to be an excellent value, and represents only 5% of the actual annual expense we invest in each Girl Scout in eastern Massachusetts. Please note that Lifetime Members do not need to renew their membership, but during Spring Renewal they will need to renew their volunteer role(s).

GSEM Circus Scout Night in April

Circus Scout Night

As many of you may know, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will perform their last shows in New England this Spring. With that being said, our FINAL circus scout nights will be held this April! If you’re interested in purchasing please reply to the email address below with the following information:

1) Which show would you like to attend? April 14th at 7pm in Worcester or April 21st at 7pm in Manchester?

2) Which council are you affiliated with? This is a MUST so please reply with this information. The council you belong to is the organization in which your troop reports to in your state. For example: The Girl Scouts of Eastern MA, The Boy Scouts of Daniel Webster Council, The Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains, etc.

I’ll get back to everyone with the appropriate information based on your council affiliation as fast as I can as you respond. Thanks so much for your understanding!

-Meg Blanchard

Group Sales Manager, FELD Entertainment

P: 1-857-400-8608

E: mblanchard@feldinc.com

 

Reading Girl Scouts Square Dance

Reading Girl Scouts is having a Square Dance coming up next Saturday March 18th for girls in grades K-2 and on April 8th for girls in grades 3 and up. 

The registration date for this coming Saturday has been extended beyond the date on the attached flyer, please see flyer for K-2 here and flyer for 3-5 here.. All this information is on their website as well at readinggirlscouts.org

 

GSEM Meet the Author Night with Ammi-Joan Paquette

Meet the Author Night (Andover) 3/29

March 29, 2017 05:30 PM-07:30 PM
50 Spots Available (Registration Closes at 11:59 PM ET on March 20, 2017)
CAMP MAUDE EATON
Andover, MA

Daisy, Brownie & Junior Level

All Princess Juniper wants for her 13th birthday is a very small country all her own, where she can practice being Queen with a group of willing kid subjects. But when Juniper and her friends arrive in their new mountain kingdom, they learn that building their own country is not nearly as easy as they’d thought it would be. Then they find out their homeland is under attack—but what can they do from so far away? And is someone really trying to steal Juniper’s throne right out from under her? 

Author Ammi-Joan Paquette will read an excerpt from Princess Juniper of the Hourglass and be available to answer questions and sign books during the event.  Hands on activities will also be available for the girls.  Our council shop will be open and offering a 10% discount on your purchase.
Please find the registration link here.  Any questions please contact Molly Nagel at mnagel@gsema.org.