Why We Do It
The Grand Scheme of Things 1 Comment 
change lives, leader issues, making a difference, volunteers
We’ve been asked recently by our COO why we are volunteers and why we put so much time and energy toward Girl Scouts. She shared her story and asked for ours. This isn’t mine, but I wanted to pass it on and add a comment.
Last week, I was messaging and having a conversation with a new leader that attended Mountain Magic with me, and she shared that after one of their meetings, a parent did not show up to pick up her daughter. The mom finally came in to get her, but she was so strung out with fresh needle marks that there was no way the leaders were going to let the daughter go home with her mom in that condition. The leader said she called a friend who worked for DSS who came and handled the situation. We talked about some of the other incidents that she and another friend of mine have had with their troops’ family members since they both work with girls who come from some difficult environments. I said that a lot of volunteers quit when they keep having to deal with these sorts of things, and she said, “Well, at least our meetings are their safe place.”
Sometimes it is not about leadership and financial literacy and G.I.R.L. power – sometimes it is just about providing a safe place to go where a girl can be herself even if it’s just for an hour or two a couple of times a month.
I am glad that the leaders did something. That someone was looking out for the girls. I am a leader of a Daisy/Brownie troop and I do this because of the great friends I made when I was a scout. My troop is a blended troop (all my girls go to different schools), and I hope that when things get more difficult as the gals get older that they can think of the troop as a judgment free zone. I hope that the cliques that can make so many feel unwelcome are not fueled in the troop. I want these girls to be able to be themselves when we are together, whether they are easily excited, or a “wall flower”
Thank you for posting this.
Jenn