Have you to this webpage before? Welcome back!!! 

What's New - Service Unit News

• Looking for a council program to attend? Check out the "Program Picks" (in a PDF file) for the Northwest Area.

• Attention 5th Grade Junior Troops!!!! Intro to Cadettes 
  Friday-Saturday April 13-14 6:00pm-3:00pm or Saturday-Sunday April 14-15 6:00pm-3:00pm  Here is a slick way to get your bridging-to-Cadette requirements done! Fun, and only takes one night.... and fills up fast !Earn your Bridge to Cadettes Patch and learn about Cadette Girl Scouts, while your leaders attend a special roundtable just for this event. This overnight event is 23 year old one of a kind event. Don’t miss it! Click here for the flyer.


• Service Unit Tshirts- 100th Year Anniversary   Congratulations to Glory from Brownie Troop 13748, our winner of the t-shirt design contest!  There will be long-sleeve and short sleeve t-shirts, as well as sweatshirts available for purchase. The cost will range from $12-$26, and are available in Youth and Adult sizes.  They will be Girl Scout green in color, and have our service unit name included. Please ORDER your 100th Anniversary shirts today!  Order deadline Jan 27th, with  payment mailed/delivered to Norma by that date.  Norma will notify everyone if we have enough orders to meet the minimum requirements.  Checks should be made payable to "Wayzata Service Unit", and sent to  Norma P. or drop in the cooler on my front porch. Her information is in the order form.

• Design the Future Girl Scout Uniform Challenge!  Girl Scouts are easily recognized throughout the United States, though their uniform has gone through many changes over the past 100 years.  What do you think the future Girl Scout uniform should look like? Put your work on display at the Great Girl Gathering.  We want to know your uniform vision for the future. By entering, you will have a chance to show off your design live at the Great Girl Gathering Fashion Show at the Mall of America.  Get all the challenge data.

• Connections 2012 - Girl Scout Adult Retreat
  Friday March 30, 31 and April 1, 2012 at Camp Elk River.
  A fun-filled weekend retreat of sharing, workshops, pampering, ceremonies, networking, crafts, resources, games & more!! Early Bird Price Deadline: must be postmarked by 2/14/2012. Registration closes: 2/29/2012. Click here to get to the flyer.  Click Here to register.

• Have a question about the new program, the Girl Guides or Badge Earning?  Check out the National Girl Scout Program Portfolio FAQs.

• Gold Award Project...you can help! Elizabeth M. is working on her Gold Award project and can use your help….For her project she is going to document the history of Wayzata Schools. You can help either with the project or by letting her know who may have some of the history she is looking for. Click here for more info...
  

• Cookie Kickoff Dance:  Westonka/Orono is hosting the Tropical Snowstorm Dance to help kickoff the cookie sales on Friday, February 10th from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.   The dance is a great opportunity to get girls excited about cookies before Go Day and have some fun.  Cost for the event is $4.00 per girl and $2.00 for a participation patch; girls should bring a new pair of socks for the service project.  Click here for the flyer.

• Wondering what there is for a Girl Scout Cadette, Senior or Ambassador to do? Click on this link to give you a sampling of the activities available.

• Leader/Daughter/Cookie Manager Overnight  
  Friday – Sunday, March 23-25, 2012
  With older girl troops the first night and Leaders/Daughter/Cookie Managers the second night.  The event is open to all registered and trained leaders, co-leaders, cookie managers and their daughter(s).  Click here for more info. 

• Brownie WOW Journey.Are you a Brownie Troop working on the WOW journey? Here is a great website with some information on the water cycle and more.

• New Locavore Badge for Senior Girl Scouts Girls Scout Seniors now have a new badge: Locavore! This badge, released in honor of the organization’s 100th anniversary, allows girls to explore the local food movement in their communities.

• Troops to Troops - Silver Award Project Help military troops overseas by creating military care packages!  

  Kia and Amelia are working on their Silver Award Project and your troop can be involved!   Kia and Amelia  have a list of items and if leaders would like (and their schedule allows) they will come to a troop meeting and work with the girls on this project.  Your troop will decorate a flat rate boxes from the post office and fill them with items needed/wanted by the military personnel overseas.  Amelia and Kia are happy to pay for the shipping of your boxes as their project includes fundraising for that purpose. However, if you would like to ship your care packages yourself you are welcomed to do so.  This activity is only one part of their project as they are also reaching out to the public.  
  If you are interested please send them an e-mail.

• More magazine features a past Brownie Troop leader.  Read about Kris Jenner and how being a Brownie Troop leader helped her develop the skills she uses today in business! 

• Good publicity on Girl Scouting!!!  The Today Show has a segment on how Girl Scouts is keeping up with the times.

• New!  Girl’s Guide to Girl Scouting:  GSUSA has updated the handbooks and badge books in a combined “Girl’s Guide to Girl Scouting” binder.  Troop’s who participated in the spring registration will receive a certificate for 25% off the Girl’s Guide ($12.65 when combined with GSUSA’s discount through spring 2012) and 25% off a Skill-Building Badge Activity Set for each girl.  Troops may continue to work on legacy badges until September 2012, but be sure to check with the Girl Scout Shop to make sure they still have the badge as all legacy badges are being discontinued.
  

• Volunteer Essentials & Council Reference Guide are now a combined document that can be found on the River Valleys website. There are sections of the document that can be downloaded/printed as you need them – the entire document is quite large (111 pgs.) and does not need to be downloaded or printed in its entirety.  However, you need to take a look at the document to see what is there so that you are able to follow all policy and procedures outlined in this document.

• Program Essentials - The 2011-2012 Program Essentials charts are available on the website.

• Meeting plans for first-time Girl Scout Daisies, Brownies and Juniors are also available.

• Be sure to check out the events page for great upcoming events!!!

• Girl Scout Highest Awards Announcements:  Girls who are working on the Girl Scout Gold, Silver or Bronze Award should visit the River Valleys website  for current highest award information (project proposal and final report forms), sample projects and important deadlines in addition to the information in the new Girl’s Guides. Inserts to the Girls Guide for these award can also be downloaded. Important deadlines:

November 1, 2011:  Gold Award Project Proposal due (for girls interested in participating in the 2011 award recognition ceremony)

March 1, 2012:  Silver and Gold Award Final Reports due (for girls interested in participating in the 2011 award recognition ceremony)

• Our next Service Unit Meeting will be Monday, January 23 at 7:00 pm.  The schedule for the year has been posted and you can also find the meeting minutes from the last meeting on this page.

• Have new members or renewing members? We have an editable Health History Form available in PDF. You may print out multiple copies after you fill it in, but unless the person filling it out has a "full version" of Adobe Acrobat, you may not be able to save your file.

• 100th Anniversary Celebration - See the presentation from the Annual Meeting on the 100th Anniversary Celebration that will take place March 10-11, 2012. You can view in PowerPoint  or PDF.

• Is your troop interested in "adopting" a US soldier?  It is a great way to support our active military.  You can send correspondence and care packages. Ask for someone from the Minneapolis area, and they will do their best to find someone from the state

• Need a quick reference chart on Gold, Silver or Bronze awards. 

What's New - Events/Activities 

• SUPER fun activities through Three Rivers Park District Looking for something new to do with your troop?  Check these out – there are some SUPER fun activities being provided by Three Rivers Park District for GIRL SCOUTS! Check out the Three Rivers Scout Calendar 

• Program Essentials - The  2011-2012 Program Essentials charts are  available on the website.

• Safety-Wise is  online at the River Valleys website, along with Volunteer Essentials.  Both are in a downloadable PDF format and should be your main point of reference.  The printed/bound versions of Safety-Wise are now obsolete and should be recycled.

• Printable Word Search Puzzle.  Want a fun activity to do at the beginning of a meeting while the girls are arriving?  Check out a printable word search puzzle that Jami found. 

• Get advice from other leaders.

• Red Cross certified First Aid/CPR trainer Rita Halbur set up a website that River Valleys volunteers may use to directly access information about upcoming training sessions and registration. Please direct any questions about registering and scheduling sessions to Rita herself using the contact info included on the website.

Don't forget to check out upcoming events and training opportunities!

back to top

Still Useful

• Special Interest Volunteers are people who want to share their talent, interests and time with girls on a flexible, as needed schedule and are a great resource for leaders. You can access the database to find a volunteer with the skills you are looking for, and then contact them directly to see if they can help with your project. You can choose from camping, nutrition education/cooking, cultural diversity awareness, lifeguard, and more. One of the volunteers is a forensic scientist with the BCA Laboratory and can provide a tour of the state crime lab and/or assist troops working on the “Uncovering the Evidence” Interest Patch.

• Bring the fun to your troop/group with new flexible scheduling, now being offered in the Metro area for multiple Council-Sponsored Program Events! Here’s how it works...
  
  1. Choose one of the great flexible programs offered, gather a group of at least 20 girls (from one or more troops), and find a meeting location in your area.
  
  2. Contact Program Specialist Nicole Huebner (651-251-1247 or nicole.huebner@girlscoutsrv.org) with several dates that work for your group. Classes can be held after school, on weekends and early release days, and during holiday breaks.
  
  3. Once your program date and location have been confirmed, go online and register for your program. That’s it!
  
  For more information, check out the Flexible Scheduling flyer.
• If you will be making purchases at OfficeMax, use the Office Max Discount Card. It will automatically flag your purchase as tax exempt (and sometimes gives you a discount on general office supplies). Note: OfficeMax is the preferred office supply store for the council, and gives you a big discount on copies. For Office Depot, use this number – it’s a general Girl Scout number that can be used by any troop – 30177961.
• If you have done something fun with your troop that you’d like to share with others (e.g. JoAnn’s Art to Wear or Stitch It badge or programs at the Three Rivers Park District), please submit the information to be included on our Web site as a resource for other leaders. Provide a brief description of the program along with contact information.
• Need Ideas? Check the recent edition of The Edge for community service opportunities, program openings, Destination information, etc. Other terrific sources are our leaders, our service unit website, and our service unit library!
• GSUSA Centennial Commemorative Coin Act Passes in Congress! Read more about it!

back to top

Opportunities

• Open positions in the Service Unit are FastStart Coach, Organizer/Recruiter (Greenwood,  Redeemer and St. Bart's), Event Chairs/Co-Chairs (i.e. Field Day, Junior Event, etc.) and Family Fundraising Chairs.  These positions are very important to the success of our service unit, and some can be shared with another adult. You can contact Kris P. or Norma P. if you are interested or want more information.

• Are you a saged and experienced Girl Scout Leader? Remember all the questions you had your first year? Mentor new adult Girl Scout leaders through the stages of troop leadership and girl planning. If you would be willing to help mentor a new leader/troop and get them off to a great start, please contact Kris P.

Find out more ways to volunteer from our council.

back to top

Reminders

• Be sure to browse through our wonderful selection of books in our service unit library to help with your troop meetings/events. Please return all outstanding materials as soon as possible as we have other leaders waiting to use them!

back to top

Troop News

Go to Troop News to read about our service unit's troops and to take a peek at Web sites of troops in our service unit and in other service units!

back to top