VISTA 8:

Co-managers

Marisa Naujokas 847-332-2829 evgs@comcast.net
Sara Sullins 847-733-2953 sullinss@bcbsil.com

Evanston Registrar

Jan Sarkor 224-723-0735 jansarkor@yahoo.com

Agenda

1. Cookies!

Be sure to thank these volunteers who make cookies possible!

• Mary Fitch (Cadette leader; St. Mary’s): Cookie Ambassador (3rd year)
• Sara Sullins (Evanston co-manager): Order Coordinator
• Cathy McCullough (Cadette Troop 6 parent; Chute): Site Sale Coordinator
• Becky Zwolinski and Rachel Sobel (Junior/Cadette leaders; Chute and King Lab): Cookie Delivery Day Coordinators
• Caroline Miller (Senior/Ambassador leader; St. Mary’s): Incentives Coordinator

All Troop Cookie Orders need to be entered into the Ebudde system no later than 1/27/10.
If you are having trouble and the system will not allow you to enter in any of the girls’ orders, go to the settings tab and change that number of girls selling from 0 to the actual number of girls selling. Any other problems, please contact Mary Fitch, evgscookies@comcast.net or 847-869-7809.

Site Sales requests to Cathy McCulllough and NOT through the Ebudde system. All applications and questions should be directed to Cathy McCullough at cmccullough62@sbcglobal.net. Get your site sale requests in now so that Cathy can process them!!

Delivery Day pick up location: Dempster Street Auto Rebuilders at 2001 Dempster St. (Dempster & Dodge). We have requested Saturday, February 13, 2010 for our pick up day from 8:00am-12:15pm. Confirmation will not be given to us until February but mark your calendars. Pick up day does not run well without the support from our troops. Please we ask that your troop supply two volunteers to help out. Troop pick up times and all other details will be sent out at a later date.

Important: On Delivery Day do not try to contact us by calling Dempster Street Auto Rebuilders. There is not much I can do during while distributing cookies. Any problems should wait until later in the afternoon when I am at home. A contact phone number will be supplied just in case there is an emergency (example, not being able to pick up your order due to an accident).

If you have any questions regarding cookies, site sales, and ordering please contact Mary Fitch, evgscookies@comcast.net or 847-869-7809.

2. Evanston Girl Scouts Web Site: A resource for leaders

Evanston GS has a Web site with pictures and activity ideas for Evanston leaders and families. The site currently has 33 pictures with captions from our activities last year. Please visit http://www.ilcrossroads.org/vistas/8/photos/ to see the pictures. You can click on Troop Activities under http://www.ilcrossroads.org/vistas/8/resources/ourvista/ for activity ideas from what other troops have done. If you have your troop’s activities and pictures to share, please send them to Ivy Sundell at crowwoods1@aim.com. Please include details that might be helpful to other leaders (costs, things to look out for, what was great about it, etc.).

3. Membership Drive: Invite Kindergarteners to your troop meeting!

Our Council set a goal of increasing our membership this year. An increased membership is important for two reasons: 1) to give more girls the opportunity to experience Girl Scouts and enrich their lives; and 2) to bring in more resources for all Girl Scouts during these tough economic times.

Remember that many hands make light work. What every school can do is focus on your current kindergartners. Invite the whole grade at your school to an event with your troop. It can be a simple event, like making a craft with your Girl Scouts. Invite parents to come, and have someone talk to the parents while the girls are busy. You need to recruit one or more parents to step forward to take the lead. Be persuasive. Tell them how great the experience is for girls and leaders alike!

4. Upcoming Events

--Have a Heart During February, individual troops plan service projects where you get out into the community to work with people who might feel isolated at this time of year. The Valentine theme can be fun. Make Valentines with senior citizens, make Valentines to deliver to people in the hospital, go to a nursing care center and sing Girl Scout songs, make and deliver a dinner for our firefighters. ****Be sure to send a description of your plans to Susan Ryan (slryan830@hotmail.com) at the Evanston Roundtable—they are working on a story and need info by Jan. 27th. She would also like any photos by Feb. 2. ****Also, Cadette Troop 189 is offering photography services for your event. The Cadettes would come to your event, take photos, and later deliver the photos on CD to your troop and to the host of the event. Contact Marisa at anothermarisa@comcast.net or at evgs@comcast.net.

--Camp Duncan March 20-21 (Elizabeth O’Connor eoconnor999@yahoo.com) Sign up starts today at the meeting. The Evanston Girl Scout Camp Duncan weekend will take place March 20-21, 2010. Ask anyone who has attended - this is a great time. The fun starts after lunch on Satuday, with a weekend of action-packed events. Some activities include archery and various team-building events. The fee of $56.45 per person includes 3 meals (dinner on Saturday, and breakfast and lunch on Sunday), lodging, and all activities. Sleeping accommodations are heated cabins with beds but no bedding. Girls should bring a little extra money if they want to buy a souvenir in the camp shop. The fee does NOT include badges which I’d expect to cost about $3 each at the camp store.

If you’re interested, please send a deposit of $10 per participant (adult or child). The check should be made payable to GS Troop 745 c/o Elizabeth O’Connor, 1120 Grant Street, Evanston, IL, 60201. Elizabeth notes: I need to know (1) how many people are attending; (2) the number of girls versus moms; (3) number of dads attending, if any. If your numbers change as we get closer to the date of the event, I’ll do my best to accommodate the changes. Note that it will be difficult to accommodate last-minute additions of dads (since they need to sleep in a separate cabin from the girls). The balance of the payment will be due March 18. If you have questions or need additional information, please contact me at eoconnor999@yahoo.com or 847-332-2543.

--Brownie/Daisy Ice Skating Get ready to help each other up, let some girls shine and others teach, and have fun together! On Sunday, March 14th from 11:00 am-12:00 pm Evanston’s Brownies & Daisies will be skating at the Skatium at 9300 Weber Park Place, in Skokie. This is always a popular & crowded event, so girls should arrive by 10:45 am so they can get skates rented and on. Due to insurance reasons this event is only for Brownies or Daisies - no siblings please! The cost is only $1 per girl for the fun patch they will receive!! Our Evanston Girl Scout Cluster is covering the cost of the ice time and skate rental. Please let Lisa Kaplan know how many of your Troopers are attending and if they need skates what size. Please respond by March 1st to lisa@flooredltd.com. Please bring the $1 per girl attending to the event. Don’t let this one glide by without you!!!

--5th Grade Overnight (Debbie Dehyle ddehyle@gmail.com) The 5th Grade Overnight is an important tradition—5th graders can meet girls from other schools, and they might see each other in middle school. Also, 6th grade is when many girls drop out, and this event can be a hook to keep them interested. It’s a way to make new friends, have some fun in the "country" and do a little badgework. This year the overnight is tentatively set for Saturday afternoon, March 6th, thru Sunday mid-morning, March 7th at Camp Wild Rose in St. Charles, Illinois. Fifth grade troop leaders need to contact Debbie ASAP about the possible date and the number of girls in your troop so she can firm up plans. Debbie also asks for volunteers to plan activities for the girls that focus on team building and/or a badge. Information will be available about costs per girl once we determine that enough troops will attend.

--Evanston-wide overnight in spring? Sara Sullins is thinking of reinstating an old tradition of having an all-ages Evanston overnight at a GS site like Happy Hallow in the Spring or Fall. It would be a great chance for girls of all ages to get together. Happy Hallow has a heated building, platform tents, and space for tent camping. Sara could organize it if there is enough interest. Email her to let her know: sullins@bcbsil.com.

--Earth Day Keep this date open! Evanston Girl Scouts will be planning events for all age levels. We will get info to you as it develops.

--Check the council Web site www.girlscoutsgcnwi.org for lots of Science Sampler days and STEM Saturdays (Science Technology Engineering and Math). And don’t forget to check the Program Resource Guide for things to do.

--There will be an Engineering Career Day for girls in grades 6-12 at Northwestern University on Feb. 27th. Girls will get hands-on experience with engineering projects working with undergraduate engineering students. The registration deadline is Feb. 12th or until the event is full. Call 847-491-5173 or email e-wordsall@northwestern.edu.

5. Leader Awards Submissions

At the end of each year, awards are given to Girl Scout leaders as a recognition for their service to GS. There are higher-level awards given by our Council, and there are also awards given at our community level. For information and application forms, go to www.girlscoutsgcnwi.org and look in the “Just for Volunteers” section. We also sent pdfs of application forms via email a few weeks ago. If you would like the pdfs again or have any questions, email Marisa at evgs@comcast.net.

Don’t be shy about nominating someone! You can nominate anyone that you think deserves the award. Traditionally the award is a surprise to the recipient, so try to recruit more letters of support without them knowing.

GS Council Awards—due January 29th.
--Appreciation Pin: The candidate is a registered Girl Scout adult who has provided outstanding service to at least one geographic area, service unit/VISTA/association or program delivery audience toward achievement of the council’s goals. The service goes beyond the expectations of the position.
--Honor Pin: The candidate is a registered Girl Scout adult who has provided outstanding service to two geographic areas, service units/VISTAs/associations or program delivery audiences in a way that furthers the council’s goals. The service goes beyond the expectations of the position.
--Thanks Badge: The candidate is a registered Girl Scout adult who has provided exceptional, outstanding service that benefits the total council or entire Girl Scout Movement. The service is so significantly above and beyond the call of duty that no other award would be appropriate.
--Thanks Badge II: The candidate is a registered Girl Scout adult who has received the Thanks Badge who has continued to contribute in extraordinary ways and once again has provided exceptional, outstanding service that benefits the total council or entire Girl Scout Movement. The service is so significantly above and beyond the call of duty that no other award would be appropriate.
--The President’s Award: This group award recognizes a service unit/VISTA/association for moving its assigned geographic unit or audience toward achievement of the council goals.

Evanston GS Awards—due March 12th.
--The Outstanding Leader Award recognizes troop/group leaders, assistant troop/group leaders, or group coordinators whose performance in working with girls is so outstanding that it merits recognition at the Service Unit/VISTA/Association level.
--The Outstanding Volunteer Award recognizes an adult in a position other than leader or in addition to leader whose service benefits a geographic or program delivery unit in a way that is beyond the expectations for the position.
--The New Found Treasure Award recognizes the efforts of an adult volunteer who is new to Girl Scouting and has hit the ground running. This volunteer has been a registered member for a short time, but has made a positive impact on Girl Scouting. This person’s performance is so outstanding that it merits recognition at the local level.
--The Hidden Heroine Award recognizes the efforts of an adult volunteer who embodies the Girl Scout principle to help where I am needed. This volunteer is available to provide over and above assistance to special projects, ongoing tasks, and support of Girl Scout programs in this person’s Service Unit/VISTA/Association, program delivery group, or other operational or governance group. This volunteer continually accepts assignments in order to keep Girl Scouting thriving. This volunteer’s outstanding service has a positive impact on Girl Scouting and merits recognition.

6. Leader Trainings

There will be more leader trainings coming up in late winter and into spring. Be sure to contact Paula McKernan (peacherino@gmail.com) if you are interested in New Leader trainings or age-level trainings (are your girls bridging up next year?). Contact Sara Sullins (sullins@bcbsil.com) if you are interested in outdoor education trainings. And contact Anne Linehan (linehanann@aol.com) for CPR/First Aid trainings.

7. Upcoming Evanston Leader Meetings

• Cluster Meeting Thursday, February 4, 7:30 pm - Queen of Angels Parish House, 4412 N. Western
  (Note: This address is slightly different from the one in previous emails; this one is specifically for the Parish House)
• Evanston meeting Thursday, March 18 - St. Nicholas
• Cluster meeting - April TBA
• Evanston meeting Thursday, May 20 - St. Nicholas

8. Registration Information

Our registration area has been changed to 408. We are now part of Cluster 58, reg area 408. The ecouncil database has been updated to reflect this change. If you need any registration materials or have any registration questions, please email Jan at jansarkor@yahoo.com or call her at 224-723-0735.

9. Important Girl Scout Procedure Reminders:

A) Don’t forget that you need a first aider on every trip outside of your meeting place. The first aider is trained in first aid and CPR. You can have one adult trained in first aid and one trained in CPR. We will have more training opportunities in late winter/early spring. Think of doing the training even if your co-leader is trained. Personally, I feel better as a citizen having had the training.

B) Always use permission slips when you take the girls somewhere other than your usual meeting place. It is helpful for parents to know where girls are, and for you to know where parents are. Make sure you take the leader training required for trips (Outdoor Ed Level 1 online and Level 2).
When you are taking a day trip out of the area, going on an overnight or camping, please send your Trip Information to Sara Sullins. Please include the destination, dates, Leaders names, First Aid/CPR person and your Outdoor Education person information. This is not only a Council requirement, but a GSUSA requirement.

C) Do a Have-a-Heart service project! These experiences are often the ones that the girls remember. I’ve heard from adults who used to be Girl Scouts that the memories that stick out are the service projects, particularly with senior citizens. Don’t forget you can work with others who might be feeling isolated in winter. Consider hospitals, Park School students, and nursing care centers.

At the meeting, leaders were very enthusiastic about the idea of having an Evanston-wide camping trip next fall, perhaps at Happy Hollow or a similar GS property. This campout would be all-ages, and Sara offered to organize it.

Remember: We could get a free night at a GS camp for all of our Evanston troops if we make a per-girl average, Evanston-wide, of 150 boxes per girl!!!! Keep this in mind as your place your troop orders and plan site sale stocks. If we make the average, every troop in Evanston gets a free night at a GS property to be used for the EVGS outing or another outing.

Additions: Eva Sue reminded us that some important GS dates are coming up that are traditionally celebrated by all GS. World Thinking Day is Feb. 22; and GS Sunday, GS Sabbath, and GS Week are part of Juliette Gordon Low’s Birthday celebrated March 12 http://www.girlscouts.org/program/gs_central/gs_days/. For ideas on ceremonies and activities for these special days, click on the right side bar where it says "ceremonies". Also there are tons of ideas online if you search for them.