VISTA 8:

Marisa Naujokas, Manager and Evanston Troop Leader, evgs@comcast.net 847-332-2829
Reese Nelson, Council SUVA/VISTA Specialist, rnelson@girlscoutsgcnwi.org


1) Openers: Marisa, Sara, Reese, everyone.

2) Fall Product: Some great changes this year will make fall product sales easier than ever. This is an easy way to get some extra troop funds. Kathy Bauer will be having two trainings on Sept. 23 (10 am and 7 pm) at her house at 2025 Sherman #209. Questions contact Kathy at newbauer4@comcast.net.

3) EVGS Camporee at Camp Palos—we are taking over the camp! Oct 1-3. Contact Sara Sullins at sullins@bcbsil.com.

4) Registration must be completed soon. Last year’s registration expires September 30th. Sign your contact info on the clipboard sheet for registration if you need forms, and Jan (our Registrar) will get in touch. jansarkor@yahoo.com

5) Give more girls the joy of GS. Invite younger girls or other grades (kindergarten!) at your school that don’t have a troop for their grade. Plan an easy activity for your girls to work with other girls while you chat with parents. Contact Kris Kelsh if you have questions about how to get started. kriskelsh@comcast.net

6) 5th grade leaders: Plan on 5th grade overnight (Elizabeth Hubbard). Help the transition to middle school, and keep in mind the shift away from the troop model.

7) Music Day info

8) Trainings coming up. Cadette training: Oct 9th 9 am-12 pm.

9) CPR/1st aid classes coming this fall! Ann Linehan will be scheduling the classes. What days/times are good for you? Let Ann know. linehanann@aol.com

10) Many new things this year with lots of positive changes! Song/dance, new VE books, and overview.

11) We need extra hands with some tasks to help out at the VISTA level. The tasks have varying levels of time commitment, and some come in spurts while others are spread out. Please ask your troop parents, too. (Marisa) Current VISTA volunteers please say what they do.

12) Raffle, next mtg (program), and video.

If you weren’t at the leader meeting last Thursday, you missed out on a grand performance. Ask someone who went and they can fill you in. :-) We had a good laugh.

Thanks to Pivot Point for donating a "Day of Beauty" for our raffle. We also raffled off some t-shirts and a Brownie jacket. At every meeting we will have a raffle and a program on a topic that interests you. Email any ideas for programs to evgs@comcast.net.

This year is going to be great. There are lots of improvements thanks to all the hard work Council did this past year. Check out the new website designed by Leo Burnett pro bono http://www.girlscoutsgcnwi.org/ with great features for girls. It is based on a fresh new look for GS. What did you do today? You must see this video to remind yourself of why we do what we do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J7BPtfObJc&feature=youtube_gdata_player (you might have to copy/paste the link). It still makes my spine tingle. AND Council heard our concerns and decided to bag clusters as regular mtgs. We may join up with our Chicago friends for larger events, but our leader mtgs will be only Evanston again. New Volunteer Essentials booklet is available on my porch at 1108 Maple, one per troop--WAY better and everything you need in one book. Recycle the old ones.

Don’t forget about the fall product sale coming up--training is on 9/23. It is going to be easier this year. Go for it! Easy funds in the fall for your troop. You have to sell fall products and cookies to have a bake sale.

And one more cool link thanks to Paula (yes indeed a pdf permission slip that you can fill in and save!): http://www.girlscoutsgcnwi.org/media/files/forms/Interactive%20Forms/activity_permission_form.pdf

Thanks for all you do for GS!
Marisa