Are you planning a Girl Scout travel adventure? Consider taking a Girl Scout bear along with you! Each service center has at least one Girl Scout bear (made with care at Build-A-Bear) available for checkout by girls, volunteers and troops for Girl Scout trips. The goal of our bear friends is to share our adventures with one another and connect girls throughout the council. From time to time, bears will be traded between service centers so girls in different parts of GSOSW can see what other Girl Scouts have been up to. What a fun way to be a sister to every Girl Scout!

To reserve a bear for a trip, contact the following individuals at your local service center/area:

Bend: Patsi Toney - 541-389-8146

Eastern Oregon area: Brandi George - 541-667-9696

Eugene: Laurie Krei- 541-485-5911

Medford: Karen Kelly - 541-773-8423

North Bend: Kristin Lukeman - 541-756-4626

Portland: Ron Severn - 503-977-6846

Each bear comes ready with instructions, a travel diary for recording your adventures, and a travel bag. Once you complete a trip with a Girl Scout bear, hop on to facebook.com/gsosw and post your photos for all to see! Thanks to Girl Scout Troop 50057 (pictured above) for sharing their trip to the Lava Beds National Monument. Where will the Girl Scout bears go next?

Aquí se puede conseguir mucha información en español para apoyarles con sus responsabilidades en guiar a las niñas a desarollar destrezas  de liderazgo. Si tiene usted alguna pregunta acerca del programa de Girl Scouts, las especialistas  de la Iniciativa Hispana son bilingües y están disponibles por teléfono o correo electrónico.

Portland

Bernice Rivera - 503-977-6852

Alma Madrigal - 503-977-6864

Adriana Ramos - 503-977-6864

Eugene

Martha Morales - 541-246-1244

Megan Bassett - 541-246-1245

Medford

Lorena Karim - 541-773-8423

En el sitio del internet de las Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washingtonse puede encontrar direcciones de correo electrónico y números de teléfono para todo el personal de las Girl Scouts.

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We help girls hone their financial skills programs like The Girl Scout Cookie Program and Skill-Building badges such as Budgeting and Financing My Dreams. We're also very excited for the upcoming GSRI study, "Having it All: Girls and Financial Literacy," due out mid-April (Financial Literacy month!). What better way to help girls become responsible money managers (whether personal or professional) in the future than by setting a positive example?

The following steps can help you keep your troop on track and set a good example for the girls you serve:

• Be sure to submit troop year-end reports by June 30
• Review your troop bank account each month
• If you find any problems, connect with your service unit treasurer within 30 days of the statement closing date

Have questions or need support with troop finances? Contact your service unit treasurer »

This year GSOSW has two great membership renewal options to make it easier than ever to participate and earn fun incentives. Early Bird Renewal runs from April 1 through May 15, 2013, and Spring Renewal is from May 16 through June 28, 2013.

Early bird patches, store coupons and event discounts are just some of the great incentives available this year - click here to see them all!

The GSOSW alumnae group, the "Elles Gantes," continue sharing Girl Scout camaraderie, doing service and having fun!  As a group, they have been together over 37 years (since 1976) and still have over 40 members involved.  Several members have "flown up" which is how they refer to the passing of a member.

EG member, Helen Strange shares, "The group meets once a year to plan the activities for the year. Each member volunteers to put on a program; meetings are not our favorite!"  Another long-time member, Selma Anderson continues, "If the activity is not fun, we won't do it!"  So meetings are few, but lots of fun and meaningful programs are plentiful-activities have included a quilting group, yearly trips to the beach, Sun River, camping, going to the theater, museums, art galleries, Oregon Trail, tours around cities, foreign travel, and much more!  The quilting group is a recent 1995 addition. "You name it, we've been there, done that," quips Helen.

Read more about the Elles Gantes » 

Bridging Kits

New "Open Late" Hours

To accommodate busy troop leaders and busy Girl Scout families, three of our stores now have late hours one night a week. Every Wednesday, the Portland and Eugene council shops are open until 7 p.m., and every Tuesday, the Bend council shop is open until 6 p.m. The Portland council shop is also open Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Cookie Credits

Bring your Girl Scout by the council shops or Traveling Stores in your area to check out all the fun items we have for hard-working cookie sellers! Cookie credits can be used at all Girl Scout stores and traveling stores. You can find our upcoming Traveling Store events at girlscoutsosw.org/storefront.

Traveling store at your event

Do you have an event coming up that and would like the Traveling Store to be there? If you want us to bring items for the girls to spend their cookie credits on, or if you are having an event and would like us to bring out earned awards and fun patches, or if you want an opportunity for parents to pick up uniform pieces, let us know, and we will do our best to be there and bring what you would like to have. Contact Tamara at 503-977-6882 or twalters@girlscoutsosw.org.