The GSSA Weekly from Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama

December 10, 2015

 


Welcome to GSSA Weekly, the council's e-newsletter. 
 
At right, members of Troop 8393 met Mrs. Jenni Zimlich at Hancock Fabrics in Mobile for a great service project. They used earnings from the 2015 Cookie Sale to purchase fabric, and then learned to sew pillowcases.  These Girl Scouts will deliver the pillowcases to children in a local hospital through the "Ryan's Cases for Smiles" program.

Learning life skills, earning proceeds to fund your ventures, and performing community service -- you Girl Scouts ROCK!!

Click here or on the image to see a composite of several images from this program. 
 
Want to see your Girl Scouts featured in GSSA Weekly?  E-mail the photo with event information to communications@girlscoutssa.org.
  
Cookie Training Videos on our Website
  
  
We have cookie training videos on the website on our Cookie Troop Chair Resource page. 

There is a link to see the powerpoint presentation narrated by the rep from ABC Bakers. (This requires a little program download.)

We also have the Cookie Q & A Session divided into four short videos, divided by subject such as cookie booths, cookie drive-thrus, money handling. 

We think you will find all the practical tips provided by experienced Cookie Chairs to be extremely valuable!
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Quick Links
 
Stuffies, jewelry, pens, tech accessories, T-shirts: we have lots of gift ideas to put under the tree or in the stocking of your favorite Girl Scout or Girl Scout volunteer!

Visit our Service Center shops or our online shop 
for Girl Scout gifts and stocking stuffers! 
Earn My Promise, My Faith Pin for Girl Scout Sunday

Earning the My Promise, My Faith Pin is a great way to prepare for Girl Scout Sunday in March!

The focus of this earned award is for the Girl Scout to examine the relationship between the Girl Scout Law and her faith, through activities and discussions with members of her faith community.

Girl Scouts partners with P.R.A.Y. (Programs of Religions Activities with Youth) to identify religious recognitions that girls may earn (one of the requirements of the My Promise, My Faith award).  Click here to learn more.

Cookie Pre-Orders and Planned Orders   

 
Predicting how cookies will sell is much more of an art than a science.   That is true from your perspective and ours, and it is always good to be reminded of this, as we wind up as the aggregate of all of you.   We work to pay a lot of attention to how rapidly cookies are going out of our 10 warehouses.   The patterns change from year to year related to the weather, enthusiasm on the part of the girls to get out to booth sales, and whether we have lots of criticism of Girl Scouts, such as the orchestrated Planned Parenthood affront during 2014.

Just as a reminder, we do not give money to Planned Parenthood. We have no relationship with them and believe that topics related to those issues are best managed at home and within faith communities.   For the GSSA policy on this go to What GSSA Stands For on the GSSA website

Why do we want to encourage you to do pre-orders/planned orders?   Last year, GSSA was left with $40,000 in excess cookie inventory.   At the end of the sale, we are not able to sell that magnitude of cookies.   We gave them to our First Responders and military, which was a great thing, but all of that is at the expense of GSSA girls, so we really do care about having you give us your best guess for pre-orders.   We work hard to have cookies on hand in case you get caught and really need them.   However, this year we will be much more cautious on how much inventory we have on hand.
   
Continue reading in our Virtual Volunteer blog.  
New Programs & Updates

 Both Service Centers and Shops will close on Thursday, December 24, and will re-open on Monday, January 4.  Online shop orders placed December 22 - January 3 will be shipped on or shortly after January. 4.

 Archery Certification Pike County (1/15)

DATE CONFIRMED: Pi Day in Auburn is on March 5

UPDATE  Camping Skills Certification in Auburn (Volunteers) March 5

Upcoming Deadlines 

Event
Location
Date
Deadline
CPR/FA/AED Certification  (Volunteers) 
Montgomery
12/10
online study
All About Money (ALL + Volunteers)
Mobile
1/9
12/16
Montgomery
1/9
12/18
webinar
every Thurs + as needed
RSVP
Archery Certification  (Volunteers) 
Pike County
1/15
1/8
CPR/FA/AED Certification  (Volunteers) 
Montgomery
1/14
online study
 
Other Opportunities
Because we want our girls to have many learning (and fun!) opportunities, we offer this additional calendar for programs that are not presented by our council. Some of these programs are presented by our volunteer Troops and Service Units, others are put on by groups in the communities we serve. Calendar listings do not imply endorsement by the council.  This calendar is available on our Events & Programs page 
Please contact the volunteer listed in the program for more information and program status. 
Upcoming Events: