Launching leadership
Consider a possible day in your life: Someone teaches your child; someone flies your airplane; someone plays your favorite piece of music; someone refills your prescription; someone drives a fire engine to your home. Women who grow up as Girl Scouts do all of these things every day.
Girl Scouts USA is our nation's premier leadership organization for girls. Leadership means getting things done. When 20 of our senior and disabled neighbors in Coeur d'Alene needed help raking their leaves this fall, more than 100 Girl Scouts and their family members met at Phipenny Park, charged themselves with cider and cookies, then fanned out for a Girl Scout Leaf Rake. Far from a novelty, Coeur d'Alene Girl Scouts have done this for the past 13 years.
So you see, when you invest in Girl Scouts, you invest in yourself in very personal ways. This is why I invite you to join with your friends and neighbors who will invest in Girl Scouts during its centennial year, 2012.
Girl Scouts will celebrate its 100th birthday on March 12, 2012. Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low founded the organization on that date in 1912. She convened the first Girl Scout troop in Savannah, Ga., with 18 girls. Congress chartered the Girl Scouts in 1950. Ms. Gordon Low would be thrilled to know 3.7 million wear the Girl Scouts uniform today, with an alumna base of millions more.
Nearly 1,000 girls from kindergarten through 12th grade are enrolled in Girl Scouts programs in the Coeur d'Alene area - about 1,500 in all, in the 10 North Idaho counties served by the Girl Scouts of Eastern Washington and North Idaho. We have room for many more!
Our Centennial Campaign is all about launching leadership in Girl Scouts today. It will fund program development, technology, transportation and scholarships. While Girl Scouts of all ages enjoy cookies, crafts and camp, we must deliver more experiences to girls who will find their way in a world that offers women more choices. That's where you come in.
You can learn about our effort online at www.gsewni.org or visit the Girl Scouts Coeur d'Alene Service Office at 410 East Sherman Ave., Suite 309.
The fresh air of the North Idaho woods has long contributed to the scouting experience. Perhaps you remember when 12,000 Girl Scouts gathered at Farragut State Park for the Girl Scout Senior Round up in 1965 - the first of several national scouting events held there.
This past summer, we moved into a new lodge at Camp Four Echoes, the Girl Scouts camp on Lake Coeur d'Alene. The new building is a science lab in the woods - the first of its kind in the Girl Scouts program - made possible through the vision and generous support of Ed and Beatriz Schweitzer. (Mr. Schweitzer founded Schweitzer Engineering Laboratory in Pullman.) The modern facility not only enables us to include more girls but also lets us introduce girls to science, technology, engineering and math - STEM - and career choices they may have never considered before. Camp still includes the memory-makers of generations: Canoeing, swimming and singing around the campfire.
Even a little thing like a cookie can make a big difference in the world. The Girl Scouts cookie program became a fundraising tool for us in 1917. Today, it is the largest girl-led financial literacy program in the country. Not only does the program provide reward for work, it also teaches many lessons along the way.
The mission of Girl Scouts is to build girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place. How will Girl Scouts be part of your day tomorrow? That depends on how you will be part of Girl Scouts today.
Pam Lund is CEO and Victoria Roberge is Board Chair of Girl Scouts of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho.