"THE BRIDGE""THE BRIDGE"
THE WALNUT CREEK SERVICE UNIT NEWSLETTER
NOVEMBER 2004
FROM YOUR SUD
I want us all to welcome Christina Sanchez, our new Troop 605 leader for Pre-K and Kinder, Tameka Davis, our new Troop 163, 1st grade Brownie leader and Cathy Collins, our new Troop 324, 2nd grade Brownie leader! We are always happy to welcome new extraordinary women into our group! Our girls are so blessed by the time and efforts each of you put into growing them into beautiful young women! Give each other a hug next time we are together and tell each other thank you! You all are the most loving and best women I have ever met!
If you have any questions or need anything, just send me an email at pennypetrich@hotmail.com or call – H-452-5176 or cell-554-9653. Always at your service! Penny
Calendar
November 4
- Service Unit meeting at Grace Church of the Nazarene, 6:15pmNovember 12 – Service Unit Girl Investiture & Rededication Ceremony at Grace Church of the Nazarene, 6:15pm. Food served afterwards. Contact is Cathy Carrillo, cathycarillo@hotmail.com. Please notify her of girls’ names so they an be on the program.
November 18 – Outdoor Skills Level I (or BOOT), 6:30-9:30pm at St. Mark United Methodist Church. Contact Penny to attend – pennypetrich@hotmail.com
November 20-21 – Outdoor Skills Level II (or SCOOT) at Tammy Vernon’s house – 9am Saturday morning until 8am on Sunday morning.
November 22 – Initial Troop Cookie orders due to Sheri Medina, sherim@fcoa.com
December 2 – Service Unit meeting at Grace Church of the Nazarene at 6:15pm
Troop Goal Setting using the Cookie Sale as a tool
We will be discussing the girls’ troop goals for this upcoming cookie sale at the Service Unit meeting on November 4th. It is time to start helping your girls make decisions on what their short term goals are as well as their long term goals. Your troop should not be selling cookies without setting a goal first. The cookie sale is only a tool to teach the girls how to set goals and then work towards accomplishing them. The goal is not to raise money, but to teach the girls how to set goals and then earn the money they need to accomplish them. The girls’ goals will motivate them to sell cookies. There are individual girls’ goals and then there are troop goals. If the girls can successfully set a goal and then learn the steps to accomplishing that goal, this sets them up for learning the actual process so that they can apply it to their life later on.
Making a large poster for each girl, stating their goals as an individual and as a troop, are imperative to the success of the cookie selling process. Posters should be made in December so that they are ready to go when the cookie sell starts in January. Please start discussing this now. I believe that Miller Blueprint on Metric Dr. laminates these posters free of charge, as they did last year. You may want to call them and confirm this.
Troop 87 Community Service Projects
Today at our meeting, we painted pumpkins which will go to the Children's Hospital for decorations.
Troop 87 did a service project at our last meeting where we made blank stationary (Christmas, birthday, and "other" cards) to send to the troops in Iraq for them to use to send back to their families.
Dixie Paulos
Thinking Day 2005
These are the countries that have been picked so far. Please email me with your girls’ choice of country to learn about for Thinking Day. Remember that we are trying to expose them to new countries! Pen J
Ghana - Troop 181 India – Troop 369 Switzerland – Troop 2047
Greece – Troop 1452/1274 Peru – Troop 224
Italy – Troop 22 Australia – Troop 87
Japan – Troop 259 Samoa – Troop 172
The Bair Christian Foundation
We have almost sixty children to help this year at Christmas. That’s a lot! For those who are interested in getting started early, please email me for more info. I have sent out an email to all troop leaders with children’s names that are available and can keep you updated with that. The director of BAIR has sent information out to the parents telling them that the deadline for getting info to her concerning the children, their needs, and their wish lists, is November 5th, so that should help us out a bit. pennypetrich@hotmail.com
Keep Austin Beautiful-
If your girls are interested in participating in a clean up event for an area of Austin, please check out this website for options. A lot of our troops participate every year and the girls have a blast!
Girl Scout Shop sale!
Guess whose birthday is coming up? That's right! Juilette Gordon Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts. In celebration of Juliette Gordon Low's birthday on October 31st, the Lone Star Shop brings you "Spot the Balloon" sale. During the month of October, you get to choose a colored balloon that can get you up to 50% off your highest priced item.
Come check out the shop's newest item, a fleece hooded sweatshirt with the Council name for $25. Visit the shop soon, since these items are new and will go fast.
Teen TOPIX – Free event for girls in Middle and High School
Looking for a cool and informative event for your teen girls? The Teen Topix Plugged In Summit is your answer.
At the Teen Topix Summit your girls will learn to deal with real-life problems in fun, engaging sessions created specifically for them. In these sessions, they will learn to reduce stress with yoga, hear about dating safety, learn how to budget money, prepare for college, and much, much more.
The November 20th event is also a great place for girls to get together and have fun in a safe environment. They can even win a door prize. The Summit is free and lunch is provided. What more can you ask for?
Open to middle school and high school girls only, this exciting event is being held at Texas State University in San Marcos between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. The Teen Summit is sponsored in part by a grant from the Girl Scouts of the USA and Laredo National Bank.
For more information about this new Summit contact JaniceJ@girlscouts-lonestar.org
Girls’ Sports Mentors needed for girls 7-14 years old
Do you know the difference between a volley and a serve? Whether you are a sports fan or an athlete, we need you to volunteer as a mentor for our outreach sports programs. Mentors are needed Mondays 4:30 p.m. - 6 p.m. at the River City Youth Foundation, located at 5209 South Pleasant Valley Rd in Austin. You will have a great time helping girls learn the fundamentals of sportsmanship and teamwork.
You can also volunteer to mentor after school hours between 4 p.m. - 9 p.m. We need volunteers to provide transportation and to facilitate special events like rock climbing and UT sports events. We also need help with providing sports, fitness and nutrition programs for at risk girls between ages 7 - 14. We especially need bilingual mentors.
If you are interested please contact Joyce Luke at joycel@girlscouts-lonestar.org or 453-7391 ext. 132.
Love to sing? Calling all young ladies! (thanks Gail for sharing!)
We have invited another young women's chorus from Houston to join us in the Rotunda on Dec. 11 and they have accepted. So we hope to have a significant Girl Scout presence from Austin. Several Girl Scouts attended our summer workshop and have already been sent invitations and rehearsal information. Please get this info out any way you can. There are no membership requirements for joining this chorus, just a love of singing harmony, also no age limitations as long as parents or troop leaders are responsible for transportation and supervision at the rotunda. Gail
If you would like to perform with Texas Star Chorus at the Capitol Rotunda on December 11th Please attend rehearsal on
Sunday, November 7
2:00 - 4:00 P.M.
Parmer Lane Baptist Church
12424 Scofield Farms Dr.
(Go to www.texasstarchorus.org for a map)
OPEN TO ALL YOUNG WOMEN WHO LOVE TO SING…..SO BRING A FRIEND!
For more information call Pat 689-0034
What to bring to the November Service Unit meeting:
Names of all your girls that will be attending this very special girl Investiture and Rededication Ceremony (Kelly will be playing his guitar and Brekken will do the announcing of all the troops). Cathy will have invitations to hand out at the meeting.