The GSSA Weekly from Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama

May 19, 2016 

 


Welcome to GSSA Weekly, the council's e-newsletter. 
 
At right, Wiregrass In-school Girl Scouts created "project night-night" bags for donation to the Enterprise Hospital maternity ward for new arrivals. Each bag contains a baby blanket, book, and stuffed animal. The girls collected enough items to make up 24 total bags. The Girl Scouts also donated cookies to the hospital to support its upcoming blood drive.

Excellent community service, 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.
  
Troop 9327's Silver Award Matches Community Need with Community Response

Three girls from Troop 9327 built a rolling book cart for the Nehemiah Center in Montgomery, collected and labeled books for it, and read to afterschool care kids and ESL (English as a Second Language) kids. 

The Girl Scouts wanted to tutor children, and so they spoke with the Director of the Nehemiah Project (a Christian Community Development Program that provides after school-care and other programs in a lower-income community). The director expressed that the center really needed a rolling book cart and Accelerated Reader program books. The Girl Scouts chose this as their project and also read to the children after school with the books they donated.
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Quick Links
Gators After Dark -- a Mother/Daughter Adventure on June 11

Grab your flashlight for a Mother/Daughter evening of gator-sniffing on the delta!  This event is not a troop program, but an enjoyable time for moms and daughters to have fun together. As a special thanks to Leaders, we are opening registration for Leader/Daughter pairs early.  Click on the image below for more information.
Scoutshire Woods Camp Registration Deadlines are Coming Soon!

Summer means Camp!  Playing in the spillway, gliding down the zip line, and learning camp songs. Making friends (and memories) that will last a lifetime!
 
Camp Scoutshire Woods Session 1 (June 12 - 17) Deadline: May 27
 
Camp Scoutshire Woods Session 2 (June 19 - 24) Deadline: June 3
 
Visit our Summer Camp page, or download the 2016 Camp Guide for more information.  

Tickets Available for M3! Join Us on June 10

Join us in Montgomery 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! 

This annual adults-only event is led by the On My Honor Girl Scout Alumnae Association to raise funds to support Girl Scouting in southern Alabama. 




State of Our Camps Update  

It is spring time, and we are working hard to get ready for the summer camp season while having lots of large camporees and end-of-the-year spring events for troops.   It is always a delicate balancing act to get things done and accomplished between weekend visits from girls.
Since I've received a lot of feedback recently about camps, I want to go through some of what is going on at the different camp properties.   We are fortunate to have four wonderful camp properties, nicely spaced across the council footprint.   Some of our properties are used very heavily, while others are visited less than six times per year.   Usage and wear and tear on a property does dictate how much of the council's resources are spent on a property.   Please understand that we don't have endless financial resources to put into properties, so we have to be strategic about what we spend and where we spend it.
This is the year of our ACA (American Camp Association) accreditation.   This involves a notebook filled with requirements that have to be fulfilled for a camp property to be accredited.   We go through this process so parents are assured we hold ourselves to a high standard.   We do ACA accreditation on the two camp properties where we hold resident camp, Camp Scoutshire Woods and Kamp Kiwanis.   Accreditation automatically triggers certain maintenance and repairs on each of those properties so they are as well maintained as possible.
Continue reading on our Virtual Volunteer Blog. 

New Programs & Updates
 
Both Service Centers and the online shop will be closed on Monday, May 30, in observance of Memorial Day.
   
Upcoming Deadlines 

Event
Location
Date
Deadline
FA/CPR/AED Certification (Volunteers)  
 Montgomery
5/26
online study
Gators After Dark (Leader/Daughters Registration)  
 Spanish Fort
6/11
5/20
Gators After Dark (Mother/Daughters Registration)  
 Spanish Fort
6/11
5/26
 Camp Scoutshire Woods
6/12-17
5/27
webinar
6/2 & as needed
RSVP 
 Camp Scoutshire Woods
6/19-24
6/3
FA/CPR/AED Certification (Volunteers)  
 Montgomery
6/9
online study
 Kamp Kiwanis
6/26-7/1
6/10
 
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.