The GSSA Weekly from Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama

April 21, 2016 

 


Welcome to GSSA Weekly, the council's e-newsletter. 
 
At right, Girl Scouts of all ages had a great time at KD Badge Day in Troy!  Special thanks to the girls of Kappa Delta sorority for their continued involvement with Girl Scouts!
 
Click on the image or here to see a larger version. 

Want to see your Girl Scouts featured in GSSA Weekly?  E-mail the photo with event information to communications@girlscoutssa.org.
  
Press Rep Tristan's Troop is Earning Bronze Award
  

My Troop (8454) is earning our Bronze award. We are serving at Mobile Urban Gardens. We have to serve 20 Hours. We saved compost to put in our garden. Our gardener gave us some seeds to plant so we can plant them at our house to turn to seedlings. I got one of my favorite vegetables, carrot. Some of my plants are sprouting.  

Earning a Bronze award is really fun because we are doing other related activities like using vegetables to make dog biscuits for a program called Tailwaggers.  At the gardens we sow, grow and reap what we sow - at the end of our growing in May, we will invite our moms to a vegetable dinner we make for them. 
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Quick Links
Shop Discounts to Thank our Volunteers! 

As a special Thank You to our wonderful volunteers, our council shops (including online) are offering a 20% discount to all Volunteers, and a 30% discount to Leader-Licensed Volunteers.

Just ask for your discount at the shops, or enter THANKS20 or THANKS30 in the ordering instructions when you place your order online  Sale runs April 16 - 22.

Here are the details: your credit card will be charged the correct (lower) amount after confirmation of your status.  Discount does not apply to uniform items, books, badges, or gift cards.

Gold Award Centennial Celebration -- Bronze & Silver, too! 

The Gold Award is 100 years old!  Please join us in Mobile (May 14) or Montgomery (May 21) for a celebration of all our past and current Gold Award recipients.

We will also be honoring recent Bronze and Silver Awardees.  Come celebrate the awards (and the awardees!) that help create young women of courage, confidence and character.


M3: Manicures, Massages, and Merriment on June 10!

M3 is an "adults-only" FUNdraiser that is led by the On My Honor Girl Scout Alumnae Association to support girls in southern Alabama.

Join us on June 10 for a fun and relaxing evening of pampering including manicures, massages, paraffin wax treatments, savory appetizers, exciting silent auction items, and martinis inspired by Girl Scout Cookies!

Tickets will go on sale on April 25. Early bird price is $35 ($40 after May 7).  Watch this space!

Adopt Your Troop's Distinguished Young Woman

We still have 20 Young Women who need to be "adopted" by Mobile-area troops!  Please take on a DYW, or if you already have, please consider adopting another DYW.

The three events are GREAT FUN!  Watching the young women descend the staircase at the airport on the arm of her escort, having a blast at the Disney Party, and attending Community Night are great traditions.  To learn more and to register, click here.

Collect Toiletries for Camp Sunshine!

This summer, GSSA will run Camp Sunshine, a day camp for underserved girls in Montgomery.  Many of our campers lack hygiene supplies, and we are asking our Troops to help out!

Please collect toiletries like soap, deodorant, hand sanitizer, combs, and other travel-size items for our Camp Sunshine girls.  Please bring them to the Mobile or Montgomery Service Centers, where there will be designated boxes in the lobbies.

We are collecting items through May 20.  This is a great way to be a sister to every Girl Scout!  Thank you so much!

Support Girl Scouts Every Time You Shop at Kroger!

Help Support Girl Scouts in Your Community! 

Now you can support Girl Scouts every time you shop at Kroger!  Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama is part of the Kroger Community Rewards program that donates funds to local nonprofits. 
 Go to www.kroger.com/communityrewards to link your Kroger Plus Card to GSSA, and a portion of your purchase will be donated to GSSA.  Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama's NPO Number is #55380.  It's that simple!  
Once you're enrolled, you'll earn rewards for GSSA every time you shop and use your Plus Card! You can re-enroll every year.  Thank you! 

Eleanor Roosevelt, My Hero      

   
I suspect we all have those who have gone before us that we look up to or consider our heroes.   One of mine is Eleanor Roosevelt.   Wife of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, she had a troubled childhood with a father who was an alcoholic.   She felt like she was an unloved child, despite being from a very wealthy family.   She was not especially attractive, and her grandmother reminded her of that deficiency frequently.   Mrs. Roosevelt had many children and then had to confront her husband's debilitating illness, polio.   Mrs. Roosevelt would have not preferred to be in the limelight for a large portion of her life. However, her husband sought public office after public office, serving as a three term President of the United States.
Mrs. Roosevelt was simply amazing on many fronts.   This is not to say she was without flaws.   However, like a fine wine, the older she was, the more she saw life from the lens of many with whom she visited and worked.  She was a humanitarian, a stateswoman, and she changed her world for the better.
Sometimes we know others through the nuggets they leave behind.   In the case of Mrs. Roosevelt, gems of wisdom that quickly express thoughts that I agree with or experience.   As I muse through some of Mrs. Roosevelt's thoughts, I think of many of you, who might not have the visibility of Mrs. Roosevelt, but who exemplify many of her nuggets of wisdom by what you do with girls to change the world.
Here's some of Mrs. Roosevelt's wisdom that remind me of the many volunteers I encounter. I hope you will enjoy some of them as much as I do.
Continue reading on our Virtual Volunteer Blog. 

New Programs & Updates
 
 Did you earn Cookie Program Credits?  We will be sending our the gift cards to the address we have on file for you.  Make sure your address is up to date in eBiz! (Not sure how to use eBiz? Contact your Troop Leader for assistance.)
   
Upcoming Deadlines 

Event
Location
Date
Deadline
 
4/22
 
Montgomery
4/28
online study
Kamp Kiwanis
5/6-8
4/29
Mobile
5/14
4/29
Montgomery
5/21
4/29
 
 
5/1
 
  
5/1
 
 
5/1
 Mobile
6/12, 6/16, 6/22  
5/1
 
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: