Girl Scout Leader Meeting - Minutes for October 5, 2006

 

Welcome to 2 new leaders who attended our meeting.  Katie Gonya is working with Brownie troop 222 and Stephanie Allan is working with Daisy troop 2956.

 

Troops in attendance, Daisy 2956, Brownie 222, 696, 2450, 2805, Junior 2245, 2676

 

4 Troops were not represented at this meeting.  It is important that at least 1 member of every troop attend these meetings.  If the 01 Leader is not available, please ask a co-leader, assistant or parent helper to attend.

 

Please remember that if your troop is not represented at these meetings, you do not have a vote on decisions made at the meeting.

 

Town Fair Results

We made $473 at the midway this year.  (after reimbursement to Jodie for supplies and to Nancy for prizes)  Down from $534 last year after expenses.  We are pretty much out of prizes, so we’ll need to restock before next year.

We need to be sure that next year the girls who are working at the midway understand what they’re doing.  We had several girls giving too many points which depleted our prize supply quickly.

 

Suggestions for next year were:

  • Second money box at the Jail.  Must always have an adult at the Jail.
  • Move face painting/tattoo table to right near the door or right outside the door so people know they need to pay additional for that.
  • Give girls running the games some kind of stamp or other way to give just one point per game so there will be no confusion.

 

Make New Friends Event Results

We took in $425 from admission and tote bags.  Supplies cost us $506, so we had a loss of $81.  Part of the reason for the loss this year was personalizing the patches (about $40 more plus we had to order 6 weeks in advance so we had to guess at a number, have 40 left-over), fewer participants and over-purchasing of some supplies.  We do have some left-overs that we can use at a future event.  Also, last year council donated all the supplies for one of the crafts.  (Fairy dolls).

 

Last year we had 55 girls participate and 37 girls lead.  (we had a loss of only $10 last year)

This year we had 37 girls participate and 24 girls lead. (2 were friends of Girl Scouts who came to help)

We had no girls older than 6th grade, mostly 4th and 5th graders. 

Out of the 24 girl-leaders, only 14 of them attended the training. 

5 more girls attended the training but did not attend the event.

 

Suggestions for next year:

  • Move event a little later in the year.  Mid October?  This way all troops will have started meeting.  Hold it before Investiture so girls who join at this event can still attend.
  • Have Cadettes also come to lead.  We need more older girls!  4th graders are not quite mature enough to be leading without older girl supervision.
  • Hold training starting at 11:00 am on the day of the event so everyone will attend the training and not have to give up another night.
  • Carefully purchase items for the event so we don’t spend more than we need to.
  • If we get personalized patches, don’t put the year so they could be reused.

 

Fall Fund Raiser

Sale started on 9/22 – ends 10/21 delivery on 11/11

-Initial orders must be completed and placed online by 10/25

-Pick-up orders at Jane’s house by 11/14

-Money and Final paperwork due by December 1st.

Troop fall fund raiser managers who are not the troop leader MUST be registered and complete the background check ASAP.  Please let Nancy know if this applies to your troop so the paperwork can get started.

 

Fall Service Project

There was not enough interest in this.  The activity will be cancelled.  Maybe a troop or two can do a clean-up day at the community center instead?  Corinna said that the Rec. department is looking for volunteers to clean up the fields on 10/22.  She will get more information on this.

 

Investiture

November 9th at the MPR, 7:00 PM.   We will use the same program we’ve had for the last few years.   Please send Nancy a complete list of all your members by November 1st.  Star (*) names of girls who are new to their level.

 

If any leaders will not be at the ceremony, please let Nancy know.   We will go over program next month.

 

Cookies

Lemon Coolers will not be returning this year.  We will have a new cookie – The Sugar Free Little Brownie.  All cookies will now have NO trans fat.

Sale begins January 5, 2007

All orders will be entered online this year and there are a few other changes as well.  I’d like to have training for troop cookie managers at Jodie’s convenience so everyone will know what they’re doing with the new system.  Training for Jodie as town Cookie Manager is scheduled for November 2nd, so any time between that date and when the orders need to be entered would be fine.   Jodie was not at this meeting so we could not set a date yet.

 

Cookie Delivery is scheduled for March 2nd and 3rd  (1 week earlier than last year)

Troop Cookie managers MUST be registered and have the background check. 

We still don’t know if we’ll be able to do the Home Show this year.  We may need an alternate plan for a cookie sale.

 

Our Financial Situation

We have to pay for several things annually:

- Leader pins (approx $45)

Town will pay for the “01” and Co-Leader’s pin sets.  If you have an Assistant or parent helper, please purchase her pin set from you troop funds.  It can still be presented at Investiture. (let Nancy know ahead of time)

- Camporee ($700, deposit due Nov 1, $350) plus badges and supplies (approx $100)

- Prizes for the ’07 Midway (approx $100 - $150)

- Other misc. items incurred during the year like photo copying costs, postage, etc. ($25 - $50)

- Financial aid???  ($75)

 

Rough estimate $1100

Current account balance $415 (after $20 donation from Corinna, THANKS!!)

 

We need approx $700.  Ideas for money earning??  One year we sold ornaments at the Chester House Tour.  Bake sale?  Dance?  When/where?  Has to be a service provided by the girls or an item made by the girls. 

 

Last year we earned $445 at the Home Show sale.  We didn’t sell on Friday and had a conflict with DI on Saturday.

04-05 we earned $537 in cookie sales at the Home Show, Town elections and a bank. (snowed the weekend of the Home Show)

03-04 we earned $688 at the Home Show.

 

Financial Aid

Last year the town gave $82 in Financial Aid to 2 troops who each had a girl who could not pay dues.  We had said we wanted to set aside $75 per year for financial aid.  In hind-sight, we should not have gone over our limit.

Guidelines for Financial Aid from our town funds:

  • Financial Aid for dues is not paid in advance. This is to help troops with dues that are delinquent.
  • Requests for financial aid to be submitted only in February and June. Bring your completed forms to the February and June leader meetings.
  • If possible, try to find another way for this family to contribute to your troop.  Make sure they participate heavily in your Fall and Cookie sales.  Ask them to supply the weekly snacks or donate some supplies (maybe something recycled) instead of paying dues.  Only come to the town as a last resort.
  • Bring your completed forms to the February and June leader meetings. 
  • Leader requesting financial aid needs to provide us with the amount of time the girl has not paid dues.  We will not pay more than the maximum allowed by Girl Scouts, which is $2 per week.

 

As of right now, we can’t afford to give aid to any troop until we know we can pay for Camporee.

 

Council Delegate Election

Service Unit Council Delegates Election will take place at the November Leader meeting.  We need to have a quorum of of troops represented to vote on 2 delegates and an alternate.  Leaders may only represent 1 troop.  Is anyone interested in running for Delegate this year?  Girls age 14 and over are also eligible to be a delegate.  The Annual Meeting is scheduled for March 31st in Concord. 

 

Fire/Police Appreciation Dinner

Debbie said her troop may be willing to do this.  If not, I’d like to do this as a joint effort between all troops. 

 

Veterans Day Parade

Please remind Daisy and Brownie families about refreshments needed at fire station after parade.

The parade is Saturday the 11th at 11am.  Please have your girls at the Town Office Complex by 10:30 am in uniform to line up.  Gathering at the fire station to follow the speech in front of the Post Office.

 

Camporee

We decided on our 3 choices for dates.  They are  June 1-2-3, June 8-9-10, May 18-19-20.  We will request the same sites we did last year at Farnsworth as our first choice, and our second choice will be Chenoa.  Katie Gonya is going to look into another camp that she knows about to see if it is less expensive.  If you were on a camp site last year that you feel we shouldn’t use again this year, please let me know before I submit the application.

 

Chester Congregational Baptist Church 275th Anniversary Banquet

Would any older Girl Scouts be interested in helping at the Chester Congregational Baptist Church 275th Anniversary Banquet on Saturday, October 21, 6 PM?

 

They will be needed to serve beverages, and dessert.  Girls would be needed between 5 and 8:30, and they are welcome to join them for dinner.

 

Reminders

  • Please file a Trip Alert for EVERY trip you take outside your meeting place. 
  • Please use only the “Pink Permission Slips” for your activities.  Do not make your own forms.
  • No hiking or camping (even in your back yard) without Basic Outdoor Living Skills training.

 

Dates to Remember

October 21st – Fall Fund Raiser ends

November 2nd – Leader Meeting, 7:00, Community Center

November 9th – Investiture, MPR 7:00 (girls arrive by 6:30)

November 11th – Veteran’s Day and Fall Fund Raiser delivery