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

Sorry Bernie, I Couldn’t Resist

National Governance, Random Things That Don't Fit Anywhere Else Kinda Like Me 1 Comment 2020 NCS, memes

It’s just too easy:

AND

January 2 2021

Stop Being Hypocritical, GSUSA

National Governance, Opinions 8 Comments circlearound, farthest north council, gsusa, judith batty, karen layng, membership dues

Well, the Farthest North case continues. Yes, really. I realize I said at one point that it was over – for real this time – but apparently not. GSUSA doesn’t want to concede the Alaskan Supreme Court’s decision to rule in favor of Farthest North. Originally I told myself I wasn’t going to cover anything with this case outside of who had what authority before the 2020 National Council Session, but when I heard about GSUSA not letting go, I had to comment.

Here’s what has gone on in a nutshell:

Farthest North filed the lawsuit in Feb of 2017.
An Alaskan Superior court ruled in favor of GSUSA in 2018.
Farthest North appealed to the Alaskan Supreme Court and won in Sept 2019.
GSUSA requested a rehearing and lost in Jan 2020.
The case was pushed back down to the lower Superior court to address who gets how much in damages, etc.

December 16 2020

GSUSA Executive Turnover

National Operations 5 Comments gsusa, sylvia acevedo

In a little over a year, these people left the GSUSA Executive Team (in no particular order):

Sylvia Acevedo
National CEO

Andrea Bastiani Archibald
Chief Girl and Family Engagement Officer

Amy Berkowitz
Chief Information Officer

Anthony Doye
Chief Operating/Strategy Officer

Lynn Godfrey
Chief Marketing and Communications Officer

Lynelle McKay
Chief Customer Officer

Annette Freytag
Chief of Staff

Perhaps this might shed some light on why there are issues. Needless to say, we can’t afford to screw up yet another National CEO hire. Continue reading

December 15 2020

Moving from Membership Dues to Membership Cards

National Operations 13 Comments blue book, cei, gsusa, j-low, jenny

Recently GSUSA updated myGS and the system was down for a couple of weeks. But volunteers didn’t notice, because nobody really uses it anyway. There was a big to-do about the upgrades, and they were covered during our recent Town Hall. But after a while, my brain started to wander as it normally does for Zoom meetings so I didn’t catch everything. Once I actually fell asleep during a Zoom Town Hall. Embarrassing. I knew I should have turned off my video.

Anyway, back to myGS. So the system came back online again, which again, no volunteers really noticed because they forgot it was down in the first place. But my IT curiosity got the best of me, and I logged in to see what the big fuss was about. I started clicking around and came across a place where you could print off membership cards for your troop’s girls and leaders (note: I’ve blurred all member ID numbers):

December 7 2020

None of These are Like the Other

Experiences as a Leader 5 Comments badges we don't need no stinkin badges, gsusa

When I first started as a leader back in the fall of 2010, the new program centered around Journeys and an entirely new set of badges had just rolled out. Last year when I was cleaning out my badge inventory, I noticed that badges cost $1.50 my first few years when I checked the price tag. The cost creeped up to $2.00 and then to $2.50 along the way. A few years later, there were some complaints about the badges being made in China, so GSUSA brought production back to the United States. The cost rose to $3 per badge, and there was a distinguishable difference between the Chinese and USA badges. Some of the embroidered designs looked distorted. The merrow edging (the embroidered border) on the Chinese badges was thicker and bled all the way to the edge of the badge. The USA badges have a small border of fabric at the edging.

Recently, a friend of mine sent me a picture of three badges including the new Cadette STEM Career Exploration Badge that her daughter recently received at an event. The first one is the newest STEM badge, the second one is from a USA vendor, and the third is a China-made badge. Continue reading

November 30 2020

A Fall Product Sales Surprise!

Reminiscing 1 Comment brownies, history, mrs. vickers, patches, the 80s, troop 20

In case you’re unaware, Girl Scouts sell more than just cookies! We also run a fall product sale involving nuts, candy, magazines, and whatever knick knacks are in the catalog. Every year there’s a collectible tin filled with chocolate mints (that I must say are very good). I’ve gotten one each year that I’ve been a leader, and I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do with all of them. Some I use for SWAPs and others for patches that I haven’t sewn on yet. The rest go up in the attic for some later use (aka collect dust), much to the chagrin of my husband. This year’s featured a Brownie uniform.

I ordered one of the tins from my daughters, and after the fall product came in, I left it in the box for a while after we delivered the other orders. The other day I pulled it out, and when I went to take the cellophane off to eat the delicious mints, I noticed something. The troop number of the Brownie uniform is… TROOP 20!!!!!!!!! Continue reading

November 17 2020

Now is the Time to Take Action on Camps

Opinions 9 Comments camps, cei, councils, gsusa, money, volunteer systems

Well, I mighta sorta lied (again) about not writing about topics on the national level. But I felt moved after I posted something on The (UNOFFICIAL) Outdoor Journey Idea Facebook Page regarding how covid-19 has created a crisis in Girl Scouting and what this possibly means for camps.

I’ll basically rehash what I said but go into a little more detail. Covid-19 has created a catastrophic membership crisis in Girl Scouting in case you’re not aware of this fact. Many troops are on life support due to being Zoomed out. Some councils still do not allow in-person meetings, and after spending all day in virtual school, the last thing girls want to do is sit in front of yet another virtual meeting for another hour. Leaders by and large do not like hosting meetings on Zoom. Like I said in my last blog post, a few troops in my service unit folded because the leaders didn’t want to deal with the hassle on top of trying to manage the stressors of life in this day and age. And for the troops that are allowed to meet in-person, some parents don’t feel comfortable with this arrangement, so they’ve pulled their girls. Continue reading

November 15 2020

Before There Were Virtual Troops…

Traditional Stuff 2 Comments ann robertson, history

Since the pandemic started, many troops have met via Zoom or some other conference software. Over the summer, I served as the admin for one of our council-wide virtual troops. Additionally, I led a few meetings in the spring with our own troop. With our new council-wide Trailblazer troop this year, we have one meeting via Zoom and one in-person activity a month. I have to be honest – virtual meetings are not my favorite thing to do, and I haven’t met any leaders who really enjoy it. In fact, we had some troops fold in our service unit because they don’t see the point in continuing if it’s going to be this difficult. It’s a discouraging situation all around really. We’ll muddle through it and then hopefully rebuild at some point.

But it turns out that there’s been other times in Girl Scouting’s history where girls had meetings that weren’t held in-person. I happened across this story while researching Lone Girl Scouts thanks to the help of Ernie A. and the Girl Scout Collector’s Guide on pg. 90. Continue reading

Girl Scout with a Cause

Friends of Camp WaBak Launches!