Girl Scouts of Nassau County Girlfriends December 2021

DECEMBER 2021

Girlfriends Girlfriends is a publication of Girl Scouts of Nassau County

Mobilizing Our Mission with the Traveling Trefoil Girl Scouts of Nassau County is now mobile. In October, GSNC received a grant from the Town of Hempstead to begin mobile programing. In November, we also hosted our 4th annual wine tasting fundraiser to sustain these efforts.

So what does this all mean? Why do we need to be mobile?

As a resilient and nimble organization, Girl Scouts of Nassau County has adjusted to meet the needs of girls for over a century.

We continue to focus on our four core pillars of STEM, Outdoors, Life Skills, and Entrepreneurship. Additionally, we are emphasizing three areas that are critical to girls’ success right now: supporting girls’ mental health, mitigating learning loss, and helping girls reflect the values of justice and fairness.

There are many girls in Nassau County that cannot take full advantage of the many Girl Scout opportunities and benefits due to their families limited discretionary time, means of transportation, finances, location, access to technology, and language or cultural barriers. These are girls with untapped talents and leadership skills who just need opportunities and access to realize their potential.

Our plan is to take Girl Scout activities and staff directly to our girls and their families in the local communities in which they live via mobile programming—bringing Girl Scouting to community centers, parks, school yards, houses of worship, and other public spaces— opening up more times and places for girls and their families to fully participate.

This fall, the Traveling Trefoil visited the Elmont Memorial Library for its Fall Festival, the Union Baptist Church in Hempstead, and a few other locations. We kicked off our launch tour in our own parking lot on November 1 to celebrate Juliette Gordon Low’s birthday.

Girls had an opportunity to sample lots of programs including making masks celebrating Day of the Dead and Juliette Gordon Low, and playing Girl Scout BINGO. Girls also got to practice some outdoor skills and check out our new Digital Leadership badges. These future-forward badges will support girls in using technology to connect with others and create a digital product that makes a positive impact and inspires others to action.

Girl Scouts of Nassau County would like to thank Supervisor Don Clavin and the Town of Hempstead, Hempstead Ford and Lincoln, Valley Van and the Bolla Charity Foundation, as well as PSEGLI and all the Mobilizing Our Mission event sponsors and attendees. It truly takes a community to keep our mission alive. We are excited to have a new pathway for girls to participate where they are and to welcome the Traveling Trefoil to GSNC. Look for a Traveling Trefoil schedule in 2022—we can’t wait to see you!

Are you ready to climb with courage as we begin a very ADVENTUREFUL Girl Scout Cookie Program?

We’re all especially

excited this year because of a new cookie, Girl Scout Adventurefuls!

Each incredible bite combines chocolaty and caramel flavors with smooth and crispy textures. The cookie’s stripes also add to the adventure in indulgence.

Be prepared to tell your customers all about this new treat – a great addition to the already flavor-packed lineup of Girl Scout Cookies. Details on all nine Girl Scout Cookie varieties can be found on the on the “Cookies” tab, under “Meet the Cookies” on the GSNC website.

Key Cookie Dates December 15: All order taking begins January 8: Council Cookie Rally

@ Roosevelt Field January 18: Initial Orders due February 4: Booth Sales begin April 3: Cookie Program ends Dates and activities for the 2022 GSNC Cookie Program subject to change. Please watch for posts on the OLC (member.gsnc.org) and the GSNC website (gsnc.org) for the most updated status and guidelines for Girl Scout in-person activities.

What’s the first question nearly every girl gets asked when she says she’s a Girl Scout?

The iconic Girl Scout Cookie Program provides Girl Scouts with unique opportunities and adventures while they learn to be entrepreneurs. Encouraging an interest in entrepreneurship builds curiosity, confidence, and problem-solving skills—qualities that prepare girls for success in academics, careers, and community engagement.

“Are you selling cookies?”

As your Girl Scout runs her own The adults in a Girl Scout’s life can help in cookie business, she’ll gain five some simple but important ways: skills along the way that she’ll use l Ask about her troop/personal goals the rest of her life: l Help her practice her sales message l Goal Setting l Encourage her to sell beyond family and friends l Decision Making l Become a troop cookie volunteer l Money Management l Work together on the Cookie Entrepreneur l People Skills Family Pin – there’s a new one to earn every l Business Ethics year!

Girl Scouts may have been around for 110 years, but our cookie program is very 21st Century—including “omni-channel” selling.

5 How can girls sell cookies? Lots of ways (omni-channel)—or just one way. Whatever works for each Girl Scout, her family, and her troop.

Girls: Take the lead in picking how you want to run your businesses.

IN PERSON: l Order cards. Use the card to track customers, place initial orders, and reorders. l Direct sales. This happens after you have cookies in hand; no need to keep customers waiting! Girls can go door-to-door, pull a wagon through their neighborhood, and more (all with the help from a parent or guardian). l Cookie booths. Cookie pop-up sales in areas with lots of foot traffic are a fun way to connect with your community and practice your pitch with new customers.

You can even do a convenient stand-about booth and sell Girl Scout Cookies right in

front of your own home.

ONLINE SALES: Use Digital Cookie to reach customers near and far. You can promote your site by emailing friends and family, creating videos to share on social media, and hosting a virtual cookie booth where you make your pitch via video and direct customers to your Digital Cookie site.

DONATION PROGRAM: Customers who don’t want to purchase cookies or are looking for other ways to support girls can donate a package of cookies through GSNC’s Gift of Caring programs. GSNC donates cookies to Hometown Heroes (local groups and organizations supporting our Nassau County communities) and Operation Cookie (cookies distributed locally and internationally to the US military with the generous support of DHL Express.)

Just one donated package earns a girl this 2022 “Adventureful” patch— sure to become a collector’s item!

OPERATION COOKIE 2022 HOMETOWN HEROES GIRL SCOUTS OF NASSAU COUNTY

3Fifty donated packages earn this exclusive GSNC Operation Cookie/ Hometown Heroes pin.

5Girls who have at least 100 packages donated are invited to a local delivery event.

Once the baker is paid for the cookies, the revenue that remains

provides funding for our council, proceeds for our troops, and rewards for our girls. Proceeds support troop activities such as trips, camping, supplies, and service projects. For our council, the sale provides funds to recruit and train adult volunteers, maintain Camp Blue Bay and our Service Center, develop council-wide programs (in areas like STEM, careers, mental health, etc.), and provide financial assistance so all girls have access to the opportunities Girl Scouting offers.

Rewards Use this set (wipe-off board, word magnets, picture frame and decals) to share what inspires your adventures!

Earn with 110+ packages on your initial order submitted

by January 18.

Girl Scout Badges and Activities for the Winter Season

As the season changes, we want to remind you there are many activities that you can do with your troop or girls can do independently at home, that will keep them engaged in Girl Scouts.

When you explore the GSNC Badge and Council Patch Programs, you’ll find unique learning experiences that will expand your girl’s knowledge.

We’ve listed some great program opportunities below!

GSNC Council Patch Programs l Growing Strong, Staying Healthy (All levels) l Caring for Your Heart (All levels) l Food Allergy Awareness (All levels)

Girl Scout badges allow girls to explore their interests and learn new skills.

We’ve shared some badge ideas below for girls at every level!

Badges l Respect Myself and Others (Daisy) l My Best Self (Brownie) l Independence (Junior) l Public Speaking (Cadette) l Troupe Performer (Senior) l On My Own (Ambassador)

Respect Myself and Others Petal

When planning activities, always check the GSNC and local community COVID-19 Guidelines. GSNC COVID-19 guidelines can be found on our website, under the About GS tab.

At 200 packages, select a cushion for your indoor/ outdoor adventures or this adorable plush koala—with an Adventureful embroidery on its foot!

It’s also important for leaders to remember to keep planning girl-led! Always ask your Girl Scouts for their input on the things they want to learn and earn.

Check out a short training video to learn about how to run a girl-led troop!

Visit gsnc.org/volunteer-training and scroll down to Training Tidbits!

For more information on the patch programs and badges you see here, connect with the Volunteer Training and Resource team during their office hours. Visit gsnc.org/volunteer-training and click the green link to sign up!

Our New Branding

Review the rewards panel on the cookie order card to learn more about all of the rewards and patches girls can earn.

Our camp brochure is coming in January.

Be on the lookout!

Registration opens Feb 7, 2022.

In the August issue of Girlfriends, we announced that our brand is evolving to remain authentic and meet today’s girls’ needs.

It’s important for you to know that these changes have been made because girls are looking to connect with brands that stand for something—and give them the tools to make a difference in the world! The updates that have been made to our logo, the shapes we are using that mirror our badges, the new color palate, and our new Girl Scout font are small pieces of the puzzle to make that a reality!

These changes will affect girls in a positive way, but we also want our Girl Scout volunteers to know how the redesign affects them. If you have any questions concerning the new branding, or are looking for branded resources to use, please contact customercare@gsnc.org for assistance.

We thank you for your continued support of our mission!

On September 30, 2021, we introduced our new Digital Leadership badges at Adventureland! These new and inno-

Digital Leadership for all levels

vative badges will encourage Girl Scouts to “Lead with their Feed” by using technology in a safe and positive way. At Adventureland, Daisies learned that a single digital image, or an emoji, can be used to represent how they are feeling, their hobbies, or their favorite food. Brownies carefully considered the difference between private and public information. After determining what is safe to share online with others, Girl Scouts created a data point sash that reflected

#gsncdigitalleadership

two facts about themselves. Juniors tackled four advertisements that con-

tained misinformation and biases. Acting as digital activists, Girl Scouts edited the advertisements to share their views on mental health, STEM, and other social issues and causes relating to technology. Cadettes, Seniors, and Ambassadors discussed their thoughts on community guidelines when using social media platforms and their concerns with internet safety. Girl Scouts use technology every day whether they are attending Zoom troop meetings, participating in virtual programs, connecting with others to reach their entrepreneurial goals during Mags&Munchies and the cookie seasons, taking action in their communities for their Gold Award, and so much more! Many girls are already using technology to make an impact in their real and online lives. These forward-thinking badges are designed to support and motivate girls as they navigate the digital world.

When you think of volunteering with Girl Scouts what is the first thing that comes to your mind?

Troop leader, correct? And then you think, “I don’t have time to be a troop leader.”

Well that is not the only way to volunteer at Girl Scouts. On a troop level, there are several roles that a volunteer may be able to take on. Troop leaders do the bulk of the planning for girls, but they need help to run the Mags&Munchies and cookie programs, do the troop finances, or carpool the girls to local trips or events. How about helping the girls to learn about the benefits of being in the great outdoors by becoming the camp-trained adult for the troop?

Girl Scouts of Nassau County (GSNC), as well as Girl Scout councils across the United States, are always looking for episodic volunteers to help at events, work on committees, and mentor and support girls’ leadership journeys. When we say episodic, it may mean a few hours at a girl-attended event or helping out at a fund raiser. Other types of volunteering may require a longer commitment, several times a year or ongoing throughout the Girl Scout year.

GSNC has several volunteer experiences available at this time.

Check them out and maybe find another way to give back to the girls we serve.

CEREMONIAL UNIT VOLUNTEERS: The Ceremonial Unit performs flag ceremonies for GSNC and partner organizations throughout Nassau County and the

surrounding metropolitan area. A volunteer with this group needs to know how to conduct a proper flag ceremony in a variety of locations and venues, both indoors and outdoors. They would be required to work with girls, undergo a background check, and wear the official Girl Scout adult uniform. They must have their own transportation.

LIVING HISTORY VOLUNTEERS: GSNC has an extensive collection of Girl Scout memorabilia, uniforms, and documents that demonstrate the impact of the Girl Scout movement in Nassau County for the last 100 years.

Are you a history buff? Do you have fond memories of your time as a Girl Scout and want to share that experience with today’s Girl Scouts? Do you have a background in museum sciences or library sciences? Volunteers will help us reorganize our collection, researching and organizing displays for our Living History room, cataloging and digitizing the collection, and preserving the assets in the collection.

GOLD AWARD MENTORS: Gold Award mentors are needed to help Girl Scouts looking to earn their Gold Award. Have you earned your Gold Award or helped girls in your troop earn their Gold Award? Then you can be a mentor! A Gold Award mentor must have an understanding of the current Gold Award process, be available to interview candidates either virtually or in-person and to work with the Girl Scout throughout her project giving guidance and assistance where needed.

If you are interested in volunteering for one of these opportunities or would like to learn about other ways to volunteer at Girl Scouts of Nassau County, please contact us at customercare@gsnc.org.

Understanding the Gold Award Your Guide to Going Gold is the go-to resource! It covers all the steps and gives examples of what girls have done for particular components. Your Guide to Going Gold is a mandatory read for all girls seeking to become a Gold Award Girl Scout.

It aligns with the GoGold web app, where you create your account and then it leads you through all the steps of coming up with and developing your Gold Award idea. Reading Your Guide to Going Gold will help you understand what is being asked of you to complete a quality Gold Award project.

The Gold Award training is online, where you can take it at your convenience, from your home. Please plan to spend a 1/2 hour to watch the video. Any questions can be emailed to customercare@gsnc.org (include “Gold Award questions” in the subject) and we will be sure to get back to you in a timely fashion.

Understanding Take Action Projects It’s important to understand the criteria for a good Take Action project, so you can confidently lead your troop to earning these awards. For both the Journey awards and the highest awards, the girls are required to do Take Action projects.

Take Action and community service projects are different, and both are essential to Girl Scouting. Community service projects are acts of kindness and important ways to help something or someone right now. They are commonly “one and done” activities. Performing community service, you work for your community. Examples include collecting food for a pantry or pet supplies for an animal shelter, cleaning up a playground, or picking up trash at a park, forest, or beach.

In Girl Scouts, when we encourage girls to Take Action, girls understand the roots of a problem so they can develop a project that continues to address that problem—even after their project is over.

For example, girls might want to do something about trash in a local park. If they spend a day picking up trash, they’ve solved the problem for that day—but there will probably be more trash on the ground a week later.

To create a sustainable solution, the girls would explore why there’s so much trash. They might discover that there aren’t enough trash cans in the park or that the trash cans aren’t visible. Once they know that, they investigate several solutions, get advice from experts, and then develop a plan and put it in motion. They can make a presentation to the parks department and advocate for them to add trash cans or reposition the ones that are there. This is where they work with the community. Once that is in place, the girls can educate the community on why not to litter. Doing research on what happens to trash on the ground or in our oceans will lead to smart practices on how to minimize waste.

Try your knowledge by taking the Take Action Quiz. This quiz lives in the Bronze and Silver Award Toolkits.

The world needs community service projects, but for the high awards in Girl Scouting, a Take Action project is required!

Understanding the Bronze and Silver Awards

NEW! Bronze, Silver, and Gold Office Hours:

If your troop wants to earn the Bronze or Silver Award, the trainings are also online. Bronze is geared towards adults, while Silver is appropriate for both girls and adults to view.

GSNC’s Bronze and Silver Award Toolkits live on the Highest Award pages at gsnc.org and is a great starting point to understand the requirements for these high awards.

In order to assist you with questions you might have once you have read Your Guide to Going Gold, Silver or Bronze Award Toolkits and have watched the training videos, you can sign up for a time slot to have your questions answered. Please check each high awards page at gsnc.org for information on how to sign up for a time slot.

More Gold Award Mentors Wanted If you wish to help girls across Nassau County on their road to Gold, send an email to customercare@gsnc.org with “Gold Award mentor” in the subject.

TRIBUTE FUND 110 Ring Road West Garden City, NY 11530

In memory of:

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Girlfriends, 110 Ring Road West, Garden City, NY 11530

Gloria Christiano (Longtime ELLM Service Unit volunteer) —ELLM Service Unit

Girlfriends (USPS 135-280), is published quarterly with a special issue in August.

Girl Scouts of Nassau County, Inc. 110 Ring Road West, Garden City, NY 11530 Periodicals Postage Paid at Garden City, NY 11530.

Audrey Entwistle —Frances Galante

Andrea Elder-Howell, Esq. President and Chief Volunteer Officer Randell Marie Bynum Chief Executive Officer Donna Rivera-Downey Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Anna Lenz Graphic Design and Production Manager Designed by Anna Lenz Girl Scouts of Nassau County, Inc., an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Agency, is a member of Long Island’s United Way, Inc. Village of Hempstead CDA, United Community Fund of Great Neck, and The Community Chest of Port Washington.

Dates to Remember December 23 December 24January 2 January 8 January 14

January 17 January 28 March 31

GSNC Shop closed for inventory GSNC Service Center and Shop closed for holidays Council Cookie Rally at Roosevelt Field Referrals for Board Development Committee, Board of Directors, and national delegates due Martin Luther King Jr. Day Adult Recognitions Awards nominations due 110th Anniversary Luncheon at the Garden City Hotel

Girls from Troops 1277 and 1389 from the West Hempstead/Franklin Square Service Unit celebrated Juliette Gordon Low’s bday by challenging themselves to do a handstand while singing “Happy Birthday,” as rumor has it JGL did a handstand every year on her birthday!

Girlfriends

Troop Click

DECEMBER 2021 l Issue 5

Volunteers who participate, encourage, and support the Girl Scout movement are the Nominate an Outstanding Volunteer!

very foundation of our organization and Girl Scouts of Nassau County greatly values the thousands of volunteers who help make Girl Scouting a reality. Please help us recognize volunteers who go above and beyond by nominating a leader, service team manager, troop cookie manager, or other worthy volunteer for an Adult Recognitions Award. Please visit the GSNC website to nominate a volunteer today!

Submission deadline for awards (with the exception of Volunteer of Excellence award) is Friday, January 28, 2022. If the committee approves the award, theA volunteer, along with family and friends, B EMBLEM will be invited to the GSNC Annual Adult Recognitions AwardSoft Ceremony, Enamel pin date to be announced. https://gsnc.wufoo.com/forms/adult-recognitions-nomination-form-2022/

NEW AWARD IN HONOR OF TERRI DELLA VECCHIA. Terri Della Vecchia devoted her life to providing a meaningful Girl Scout experience for the girls that she worked with during her tenure. In honor of Terri, this award will be presented to any Girl Scout leader that has championed their girls from Daisies all the way through Ambassadors, providing them with a comprehensive Girl Scout experience.

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