February 11, 2003

Dear Girl Scout Parents,

I want to welcome a new member to our troop. Her name is Sarah and I know that some of you already know her and her parents. We welcome them to girl scouting and to troop #222. Please introduce yourself if you don't already know them. They are already signed up for the Monarch's game. Please add them to your phone list. If you need a new phone/contact list please just ask me.

Family and Friends Skate: I want to let you know that there is a GS sponsored town ice skating event tomorrow, Wed Feb 12. It is open to anyone and will be held at the Exeter Rink at 2pm for $4 per person and it includes rental skates. It is an early release day at Chester Academy.. in case anyone has forgotten!

The most important news item to tell you concerns the Saturday Nursing Home Visit. The Birchwood Nursing Home has asked us to come on Valentine's Day... Friday evening at 6:30 pm. We would like to change this, but realize that this is short notice. It would free up a Saturday... which would be nice for family time and it could bump the trip a few weeks missing Valentines Day completely. I need some feed back ASAP. How many girls and how many parents can meet us here at the Children's Exploratorium at 6PM? Maybe we can order some Pizzas so that we can eat something first!? What do you think? The folks at the nursing home would sure appreciate our smiling face and good company. I must get some answers right away so that I can send a "troop alert form" to our town SUM. I have to send her a count plus all the details. I will also need all the girls to have the usual permission form signed. Bring them in on Friday evening... I will also have extras on Friday. We will take the Fun Bus that fits 15 passengers and if there are more people attending... we will need a few drivers.

Girl Scout Cookie Delivery date: The cookies will be here Saturday, March 1st and must be picked up by you or another designated person who has given there phone number to the troop. In other words... if you will be busy or away this date (since it is winter vacation week), you must make arrangements to have your daughter's cookies picked up before dinner hour on Saturday. I will be out of state this day, but Miss Sally our cookie manager and Miss Beth and Miss Corinne will be there to receive and sort the 1000+ boxes that our troop has ordered. Thank you so much... you gals are the best! I can not predict how long this will take to receive and organize these cookies, but I can tell you that Sally is very fast and efficient and organized. She had last year to practice.. but this year will go even smoother. We must have them picked up right away this year. They will be sorted in the main room of the Exploratorium and there is no place to store your cookies. Please make all the proper arrangements and relay this info to either Sally or myself. Thanks in advance.

Home Show at the Center of NH ~Girl Scout Cookie Sales, Sunday March 9th 10:00 am - 1:00 pm for our troop. We need at least 8 girls and 4 parents to volunteer and sign up for a booth sale at the Center of NH. The girls will represent GS in their uniform and man (girl!) the booth and walk around with an adult at the home show selling cookies. This funds our annual Camporee and the girls also earn additional Cookie Credits towards camp or store items. If you are not familiar with Cookie Credits, your daughter will also receive this coupon by mail for all cookies sold in their name. The nice thing about the Home Show is that we will not pay and admission fee to get in and you will have some time to enjoy the show after and during this event. Please sign up... we only had 3 adults and 4 girls represent us last year. I know that this is church time for many, but we were not given a choice in time slots. I tried to change it for us with no success. It was easy last year and it was fun too.. come join us for a good cause. You can sign up for Sat at 9:00 with troop 696 if this is better for you.

Square Dance: Our Family Square Dance is scheduled for Friday, March 14th at 6:45. The fee is $1 at the door of the Multi-Purpose room. The caller has asked that each girl dance with an adult this year. It will make it much easier. No experience is necessary and it is a whole lot of fun! Just show up.

Monarch's game update: Sunday March 23 we will meet at the Center and take the Fun Bus. It is an afternoon game (4:00 start) and we will me meeting after lunch. The girls will need to take some spending money for goodies at this event. It is $9 per person and we have 7 child and 3 adult tickets left. Please sign up ASAP. More details will be given in the next newsletter. I've been told that we will receive a fun patch for the back of our vest this year!

Shoot for the Stars: at the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium ~ Saturday April 26th. This will take place from 4pm until 9:30pm. We will be taking the fun bus and we need parent volunteers too. This is a Brownie event and we will be joining other NH Brownies for a great evening of space discovery. It is only $5 per person and we will get a fun patch for this too! I will start collecting names and money for anyone interested. We will need to give them a count in the next few weeks so that we may reserve space. We already paid the $25 deposit for this activity.

Camporee: May 30, 31 and June 1: I need to know if your daughter is going camping this year. We will need some parents to go again this year. This year the town of Chester is going to a different campsite... a much better campsite! Camp Farnsworth in Thetford, VT. It is 12 miles north and west of Hanover, NH. It is 290 acres of woodland and meadows, including a 40 acre private lake, dining hall, infirmary, showers, riding rings and trails, cabins and platform tents... with mattresses! It also has a recreation building, tennis courts and an adventure course and water slide. It is the best of the best camps.. and we got it! The scout leaders for our town are so excited! Do you want to go? Most every older GS that I have ever talked to has said that they will never forget their awesome camping experience with the scouts at Camp Farnsworth. Miss Sally is one of them.... ask her yourself! I don't want to miss it. I am trying to work it out so that I will be there. This is also the weekend of the Kindergarten Graduation for the Exploratorium. It is too far this year... so I must make a personal/business decision in this matter. Sally will not be able to make it, since she is the director at the school. I will keep you posted as to whether I will attend. I do wish that some parents will step up and go with our girls. It is a preplanned event with a schedule that anyone can follow. Please let me know ASAP. I can't wait until May to get an idea... I need to know now. Thanks.

I also have Summer Camp information if your child is interested. Cookie Dough is good as payment for GS Camp and at the GS Store.

Thanks for reading this newsletter all the way through! I know it is long, but I have so much information to tell you about. The last thing that I want to say is that I have enjoyed being a scout leader for the past couple of years. I have enjoyed spending quality time with your kids. This year will be my last year with troop #222. I will most likely continue with scouting in some form or another in the future, but I have big plans for next year. I can't possibly continue leading the girls. I hope you all will understand.

If you have any other questions, please call me. If you and/or your daughter will join us on Friday February 14th to deliver Valentines to the elderly... call me right away or email me. Thanks a million!

I hope your daughter is having fun in Girl Scouts.

Sincerely,

Lauren
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