Volunteer Connection
In This Issue
Pathways Guide is here!
Voting ends Monday!
Service Unit & Regional Volunteer Position Training
Nonprofit Volunteer & Career Fair
Renewing the Promise
Adult Recognitions Update
Calling all Girl Scouts
Continued Construction
Girl Scouts in the News
Shop News
Get Connected!
Dates to Remember
Girl Scout Shop &
Resource Center open Summer Hours
now-August 31

PR Team Applications
being accepted
July 15-August 15

Team Up Challenge
Voting Open
July 30-August 13

Service Unit & Regional Volunteer Position Training
August 11

Labor Day Holiday
(offices closed)
September 3

Trefoil 2012
September 20

GirlExpo 2012
October 6

Girl Scout Greats


Join Our List
Join Our Mailing List
 

August 10, 2012

Here you'll find timely information about programs, adult learning opportunities, and other general news to keep you connected to GSSWT! Volunteer Connection will be sent weekly every Friday. Stay in the know and keep an eye on your inbox for great Girl Scout information!
Fall 2012 Pathways Guide is here!  
Pathways Guide GSSWT's Pathways Guide is published twice a year (January and August). Hard copies of the publication are available for every registered Girl Scout and the guide can be easily accessed online.

Inside the Pathways Guide, you'll find a step-by-step guide to registering for and attending a variety of council-sponsored activities that emphasize the flexible pathways in Girl Scouts. GSSWT staff plan and implement girl activities and adult learning opportunities throughout the council's 21-county service area to meet the needs and interests of our diverse membership. Each event identifies the appropriate grade level, if adults are required to attend, and if the event is for troop, individual or family participation.


Click on the cover at right and make your way to Girl Scout fun!
Voting ends Monday  

By taking a moment to vote, you can give GSSWT the opportunity to win $10,000!


The 2012 Summer Team Up Challenge, presented by AT&T, is a service-learning initiative that encourages youth at local nonprofits to apply what they are learning to the real world that, in turn, brings education alive in powerful ways. Ten semifinalists -- including GSSWT --  have received $1,000 to work on their projects.

The grand prize for the 2012 Summer Team Up Challenge, part of Silver & Black Give Back, is $10,000 -- help GSSWT have the chance of winning it by visiting and voting for GSSWT at www.teamupchallenge.com between now and Monday, August 13. You can vote as many times as you want!

GSSWT's Team Up project empowered middle and high school Girl Scouts to serve as mentors for younger Girl Scouts by facilitating service projects to benefit the community and local organizations. Throughout the summer, these girls led program with girls in grades K-5 during Camp Metro sessions. Girls created art to benefit Meals on Wheels, led a beautification project at The Neighborhood Place and planted a community garden at the new West Side Girl Scout Leadership Center.   

TeamUp If won, the grand prize will be used to provide 20 Take Action mini-grants for  Gamma Sigma Girls and Gamma Sigma Pearls chapters to complete the service projects of their choice during the 2012-2013 school year. These projects are girl-led and benefit a wide variety of organizations across our community.

Thanks for clicking ... again and again and again!    
  

 

Service Unit & Regional Volunteer Position Training to be held tomorrow,
Saturday, August 11   

100 Years of Volunteerism ... and there's still something to learn! All volunteers who have been or are currently service team volunteers, and all volunteers interested in training for service unit team positions or the new regional volunteer positions, are encouraged to attend Service Unit and Regional Position Training and Enrichment from 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturday, August 11 at San Pedro Presbyterian Church (14900 San Pedro Avenue, San Antonio, 78232).
3rd Annual Nonprofit Volunteer & Career Fair 

You're invited to SANCouncil's 3rd Annual Nonprofit Volunteer & Career Fair, hosted by GSSWT. This event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tuesday, August 14 at the Sally Cheever Girl Scout Leadership Center

 

Please share this with your friends and family who might be looking for volunteer and career opportunities in the San Antonio nonprofit community. Click here to see who'll be there!
Renewing the Promise 2012 

6-8 p.m., Thursday, September 6 @ Sally Cheever Girl Scout Leadership Center (811 N. Coker Loop, San Antonio, 78216)

 

Join us for light refreshments, door prizes, and a Girl Scout event! Come learn about the customizable membership options for girls (K-12) as well as fun and flexible volunteer opportunities for adults. All girls registering at the event will receive an early bird patch.

 

For more information, contact Recruitment Specialist, Annalisa Franco (210-349-2404/1-800-580-7247 ext. 285).

Adult Recognitions Update 

In an ever-changing volunteer culture, Girl Scouts has to come up with new ways to recognize volunteers. GSUSA has decided to retire the Outstanding Leader, Outstanding Volunteer, and Adult Development Pin and the leaves associated with it. Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas will honor applications for these awards until the supply in the Girl Scout Shop is depleted.

 

When awards are taken away, new ones are made. GSUSA has created the Volunteer of Excellence award that recognizes volunteers from any pathway. An example of someone deserving this award might look something like this:

 

A volunteer Program Advisor works over the course of the year with a teen advisory committee of 30 current Girl Scout Seniors and Ambassadors who plan and deliver four performance day camps, using content from the aMuse Journey, targeted to girls in underserved areas of the council. As a result, those areas have a combined total of 210 new Junior girl members and 16 new adult volunteers; 92 percent of the girls at camp also signed up for other opportunities during the year.

 

For more information on this process, please contact the Volunteer Development Center (210-349-2404/1-800-580-7247 ext. 207).

Calling all Girl Scouts

Are you interested in telling others in your community how great Girl Scouts is?


Girls ages 5-17 with bright personalities are needed to help represent our organization throughout its 21-county jurisdiction as part of the council's Public Relations (PR) Team. Applications for the 2012-2013 PR Team will be accepted through August 15.

Applicants for the PR Team should be articulate, outgoing, willing to be called with very short notice, and have access to transportation to and from events. Girls with musical talent (singing, piano, etc.) are also encouraged to apply.

To apply, a parent/guardian must complete the 2012-2013 PR Team Application, available online through Wednesday, August 15. You will be contacted after that date about the next steps in the process.

Applications will be accepted through August 15 ONLY. Applications received after the deadline will not be considered until the next membership year.

Apply now!

Wurzbach Parkway progress  

Keep an eye out for heavy equipment transportation in our area as construction on the Wurzbach Parkway extension continues to progress.

 

Please drive slowly when entering the grounds near the Sally Cheever Girl Scout Leadership Center, as trucks will be coming and going quite often through the lot.

 

Blanco Road at Wurzbach Parkway

Non-stop closure until further notice

The right lane of north-bound Blanco Road will be closed while SAWS crews investigate and repair a water leak. No detours are necessary for this closure.

 

Construction on Wurzbach Parkway is scheduled for completion in 2015. 


For more information and weekly updates on the construction, 
sign up for the newsletter here.

Girl Scouts in the News 
August 8, mysa.com 
Kirby Girl Scouts help classmates with Operation: Supply a Student

 

Many famous females such as Nancy LopezCondoleezza RiceHilary Clinton, and Naomi Judd -- leaders in their chosen fields -- were once Girl Scouts who had dreams of changing their worlds.

 

Operation Supply Serena Contreras, an eighth-grader at Woodlake Hills Middle School, has much in common with the aforementioned celebrities: She is a Girl Scout Cadette, with the Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas; and she set out to "change the world" of those around her.

 

At the beginning of school last year, Serena noticed a fellow student who lacked essential back-to-school supplies. When she quietly asked the student why, the response was, "We don't have any money for school supplies." Serena unselfishly shared some of her supplies, to lessen the student's burden. Read more here!

Shop News

Shop News
Summer Hours (now-August 31)
 

Monday-Wednesday: 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Thursday: 8:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m.
Friday: 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
Second Saturday: 9 a.m-1 p.m.  

Get Connected! 
Find us on Facebook    Follow us on Twitter  View our videos on YouTube Visit our blogTell Us! Constant Contact
GSSWT's Vision Statement
Our vision is to be a high performing, girl-focused staff with the desire and skill set to provide the highest standard of support that enriches, empowers, and energizes the local Girl Scout Movement. In doing so, we create a lifetime of inspiration through Girl Scout experiences that are so relevant and inclusive every girl will want to be a part.