American Heritage girls earn support
We recently covered the rapid rise of a new program for boys called Trail Life USA as a response to the policy changes in the Boy Scouts. The same reaction to the Girl Scouts has been felt across the country, particularly among church leaders.
The archbishop of Kansas City, Joseph Naumann, made a strong statement a few years ago: “To follow Jesus and his Gospel will often require us to be counter-cultural. With the promotion by Girl Scouts USA of program and materials reflective of many of the troubling trends in our secular culture, they are no longer a compatible partner in helping us form young women with the virtues and the values of the Gospel.”
Instead, parishes in that diocese partnered with American Heritage Girls, founded in 1995. AHG has grown by 30-50 percent per year since its inception with more than 50,000 members.
Churches in the Northwest have discovered this new program for their daughters that is a faith-based, character development program for girls kindergarten through age 18, dedicated to the mission of building women of integrity through service to God, family, community and country. As AHG describes their program, a girl’s mission in life not only includes the many accomplishments she’s sure to achieve, but also the great joy in offering up her life’s success in praise to God. What a calling!
Three nearby churches sponsor American Heritage Girls: Rathdrum Calvary, Timber View Church in Mead, Wash., and Candlelight in Coeur d’Alene. To explore this further we talked to Hannah Schenkenberger, who coordinates the program sponsored by Rathdrum Calvary Church.
Hannah, when did you start the program and how many attend?
We started our AHG Troop in the fall of 2016 so this is just the end of our third year. We have 25 girls attending regularly and 11 adult leaders. We divide the girls into three age groups — the Tenderheart Unit is ages 6-8, Explorer Unit is ages 9-11 and the Pioneer Unit is ages 12 and older.
What is distinctive about American Heritage Girls?
AHG is the premier national character development organization for girls that embraces Christian values and seeks to build women of integrity through service to God, family, community and country. It has a unique mix of fun, education, challenge and achievement. A key element is service and we have special events that are focused on providing girls with opportunity to serve.
What are some of the highlights of activities that you are involved in with the girls?
There are 80 badges they can earn and they include the arts, outdoor skills, personal well being among others. The Pioneer Unit, for example, achieved their badge in creative writing by writing a one act play, composed a 60-second radio ad to promote it and wrote a children’s book to share with a younger unit. The Explorer Unit worked on sign language and learned the basics of ASL and are planning to perform a song using ASL at their end of the year ceremony.
We also packed 50 boxes for Operation Christmas Child, packed sack lunches for the homeless community, doing yard work for fall clean up.
Why did you pick American Heritage Girls for your program specifically?
Our ultimate desire is to share the love of Jesus with these girls and create an environment where they can know Him as their savior. It is important they also know how to share the good news of the gospel. The AHG Oath says, “I promise to love God, cherish my family, honor my country and serve in my community.” AHG serves our purpose to raise up Godly women.
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For more information regarding American Heritage Girls, you can go to their website https://americanheritagegirls.org/ or Hannah Schenkenberger Troop Leader at Rathdrum Calvary: hannahschenkenberger@gmail.com