May 4 2021

If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Yank Their Charter

National Governance    20 Comments    , , , ,

I’ll just leave this right here:

Update from National Board and CEO

Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) remains wholeheartedly committed to building girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. GSUSA issues charters to over 100 local Girl Scout councils to bring our powerful mission to life with Girl Scouts throughout the country. The charters and our Girl Scout governing documents in the Blue Book of Basic Documents provide rights and obligations for local councils. While the chartering process is an internal Girl Scout business matter, good governance is the foundation of our organization’s ability to deliver on our mission—helping girls realize their biggest dreams and full potential. As such, GSUSA takes this process very seriously and conducts a thorough annual review of each council’s adherence to its charter obligations.  
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April 21 2021

The Four Pillars Revisited

National Operations, Opinions    5 Comments    , , ,

This is a follow-up to my last post about revamping our program.   In it, I wrote:

Our program is based on four pillars – the Outdoors, STEM, Entrepreneurship, and Life Skills.  We should stick with those, but add Art into the mix too.  These five pillars should be the basis of our programming moving forward.

The current Four Pillars

A few days ago, I revisited these pillars.  I realized this whole time that I didn’t have the same definition of “Life Skills” that GSUSA has:  “By partaking in life skills programming, girls enhance the academic skills they learn in school through topics such as civic engagement, healthy living, communication skills, financial literacy, and global citizenship.”

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March 25 2021

A Skills-Based Program Reset Button

National Operations, Opinions    9 Comments    , , , ,

“Stepping onto a brand-new path is difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation, which is not nurturing to the whole woman.” — Maya Angelou

Unless you’ve been under a rock lately – a really big rock – we’re currently looking for a National CEO. Considering we’ve gone through three National CEOs in the past ten years, it goes without saying that we need to get this next hire right.  The incoming CEO will have a big job on her hands dealing with the fallout from a pandemic and the upheaval it’s brought.  But while it’s certainly an intimidating situation, it’s also a good opportunity to hit the reset button and get back on the right track.  Continue reading

February 10 2021

Here and There and Everywhere

Random Things That Don't Fit Anywhere Else Kinda Like Me    3 Comments    , , , , , , , , ,

Here comes a hodge podge of updates regarding previous posts and random observations and such that I wanted to share.  I’ll jump right into it!

Lifetime Membership Card Update

Even after almost 7 years of writing, I still cannot correctly predict which posts here on GSWAC (Not a Council) will go viral and which ones won’t.  The one I wrote almost flippantly about membership cards back in December completely blew up much to my surprise.  I guess membership cards are a hot topic!

Speaking of that, after I accidentally requested a new Lifetime Membership card, I received a notification from GSUSA Customer Care about a month after the fact stating that I’d get my new card in 6 to 8 weeks.  A friend of mine in another council requested a new LTM card the same way, but instead of receiving a message from GSUSA, her request was forwarded to her council who instructed her to print one out.  Hmm.  Continue reading

February 1 2021

Friends of Camp WaBak Launches!

Ideas    1 Comment    , , , ,

Back in November, I wrote a warning regarding what I foresee on the horizon when it comes to the future of camps.  In it, I mentioned that we were in the process of starting a Friends group here in my council (GSSC-MM).  Well, that time has come!

I am very excited to announce that the Friends of Camp WaBak group has OFFICIALLY launched!  FOCW is a volunteer organized and led association of camp alumni, volunteers, girls, parents, and supporters who seek to support and promote Camp WaBak.  Continue reading

January 21 2021

2021 Cookie Memes

Cookie Memes    No Comments    ,

Cookie memes are by far the most popular subject on GSWAC (Not a Council).  I can always tell when it’s cookie season because hits to my blog skyrocket on a consistent basis due to visits from web searches for “cookie memes” or links on Pinterest.  When it comes to creating new ones, it’s either feast or famine on a year to year basis.  This year, I downloaded a handful of pictures that I thought would make good memes, but I was only inspired by two.  So here is the very small 2021 Cookie Meme Show.  If I come up with more, I’ll post them here.

And here is my favorite which I think is one of my favorites of all time.  I was inspired by the vintage Valentine’s Day cards that we used to get in our hand-decorated shoeboxes at school.   Plus I love bears.  Except when they dump big packages around camp.

You can see ALL of the cookie memes here on GSWAC (Not a Council) here.