Walnut Creek Service Unit Meeting

Minutes

February 3, 2005

Meeting started at 6:40 p.m. with the flag ceremony.

Service Unit News – Michaelle Pomerleau

• Everything is now moved over to the new building, but the computers are still down.  If you need to get in touch with Michaelle, call her on her cell phone at 633-6171.  Everything should be up and running at the new location by Wednesday, February 9^th. 
• In January, Michaelle nominated Penny for the United Way Volunteer of the Month and her nomination was approved.  Penny will receive the award on February 17^th.  Michaelle will check and see if the leaders/people that are able to, will be allowed to see Penny receive her award. 

Chili Cook-Off

The Chili Cook-Off will be on Saturday, April 2^nd at the St. Francis School gymnasium from 3:30 p.m. to approximately 6:45 p.m.  Participants should make their chili at home and then bring it up to the cook-off.  You should also bring an undecorated cake (for the cake decorating contest) and if possible, bring your own table to set up on.  The schedule will be as follows:

*           3:30 p.m.                                Arrive and set-up

*           4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.           Judging

*           4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.           Activities

*           5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.           Eat

*           6:30 p.m.                                Awards

*           6:45 p.m.                                Clean-Up

Anyone may attend this event, but the hope is that the Dads and daughters will be doing the cooking together and will participate. If you plan to attend this event, please R.S.V.P. to Mona by March 20^th at 835-0231.

Spring Camp Out

The Service Unit Spring Campout will be on April 22-24, 2005 at Krause Springs in Spicewood, Texas.  There is a $15 fee per person that includes a two night stay, Saturday’s dinner, a patch and lots of activities.  The leaders received registration packets for this event from Cathy C. and if your troop is planning on attending, you need to turn in your registration form and money at the March 3^rd leaders meeting. 

Junior Day

Junior Day this year will be held on Saturday, March 5^th and hosted by Troop 259.  It is offered to all Juniors and bridging Brownies.  The Troop is tying Junior day into “Explore UT: The Biggest Open House in Texas!”, a program being offered by UT.  Those attending Junior Day should meet at 11 a.m. at the Texas Union Information Center (Carrie M. passed out maps at the meeting) to pick up your passports and then go for a tour of the UT Tower as a group.  At 12 p.m. the group will have lunch at the Texas Union Building.  The girls may bring sack lunches or if they prefer there is a Taco Bell and Wendy’s inside the Texas Union Building where they may purchase their lunches.  After lunch the girls will pose for pictures at the Texas Union Building and the Junior Day portion of this event will be over about 1 p.m.   There is no fee to attend this event and no registration is needed.  Safety Wise adults are necessary for girls attending this activity.  For more information on Explore UT you may go to http://www.utexas.edu/events/exploreut

Dance Umbrella

This is a special opportunity for Girl Scouts and anyone interested in attending.  Per Penny’s e-mail, the theme is Gratitude and the importance of community and our elders.  They specialize in African Dance from the Mali Empire, Senegal and surrounding countries.  She mentions that this would be good for Junior Girl Scouts to earn the World Neighbors Badge, but it's wonderful for children in general.  If the children can not afford the $1.50, they will not be denied.  It's mostly to introduce them to new things and different cultures.  It's open to any children that would want to have the experience.  The regular show tickets are $20 a person, so this is just a special performance.

Harlem Globetrotters

For the Thursday, February 10^th performance, the tickets are $10 for Girl Scouts.  This cost includes pre-game photo opportunities and a patch.  For more information you may go to www.uterwincenter.com .

Thinking Day

Thinking Day will be held on Saturday, February 26^th from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. at MUMC.  All participants must be there by no later than 9am to get their tables set up so that the event may start at 10 a.m. sharp. 

Each troop is responsible for bringing power strips and extension cords if they need electricity at their booth.  The countries will be set up in order alphabetically, so there is not guarantee that you will be right next to a plug. 

Each troop will receive the following amount of tables for their displays:

Australia – Troop 87             2 tables

Brazil – Troop 324                            1 table

Canada – Troop 67                          1 table

Gambia – Troop 305/309                1 table

Ghana – Troop 181                          1 table

Greece – Troop 1452/1274 2 tables

India – Troop 359                              2 tables

Italy – Troop 22                                  2 tables

Jamaica – Troop 1996                     1 table

Japan – Troop 259                           2 tables

The Netherlands – Troop 16            1 table

Peru – Troop 224                              ????

Samoa – Troop 172                         1 table

Singapore 1027                                2 tables

Switzerland – Troop 2047                1 table

Greenland – Troop 163                  1 table 

Five girls from Tammy Hunt’s troop earned their Silver Award and they will be recognized at Thinking Day.  Thinking Day will start with:  1. Flag Ceremony; 2. Parade of Nations; and 3. Silver Award Recognition.  In the middle of the event (about 11:15 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.) the skits will be performed.                    

Cookie Booths

Penny asked everyone about their cookie booth experiences so far and the following comments were made:

• At the RaceTrac on Rundberg, the workers are rude and it does not seem safe.
• The workers at the RaceTrac on Braker are very nice.
• The people at Academy are very nice and it is nice to set up inside.
• Randall’s is insisting that we set up inside on the one side and this decreases the girls selling potential.  We are going to check with Nelda and see what our contract says about selling location.
• At Wal-Mart, some parents were selling closer than required 10 ft. away from the doors and they said they had permission to do so in bad weather.  We checked with Nelda and she confirmed that the girls had to be at least 10 ft away from the door.
• New Wal-Mart info – the girls need to stand to the side of the entrance to Wal-Mart.  The New manager does not want them in front of the door.
• It’s cold!!!!!

Call Sheri at work – 719-7648 or on her cell – 350-7648, to tell her what kinds of cookies you need and how you can get them from her.

Miscellaneous

• On Saturday, February 12^th Mona’s troop is offering baby-sitting services at St. Mark’s Methodist Church from 6 p.m. – 10 p.m.  The costs are $5 per hour for 1 child, $8 per hour for 2 children and $10 per hour for 3 children.  Ages allowed are potty trained up to 8 years old.  This fund-raiser is to help them raise money for a cruise.
• Before the Girl Scouts’ support, the BAIR Foundation had to solicit businesses for gifts and donations for the children, so they are very appreciative of our help.
• When ordering your license plates, you may get a customized Girl Scout plate and a portion of the expense will go to Lone Star Girl Scout Council.  The plates cost the regular license fee plus $30.
• Penny passed out thank you notes from the City of Austin for those that volunteered at the Trail of Lights.
• For sale, Penny had seven WAGGS mouse pads left for $10 each; Thinking Day magnets for $1.50 and WAGGGS patches for $1.50.

The closing flag ceremony was at 7:45 p.m. and the meeting adjourned at 7:48 p.m.

Minutes submitted by:

Jamie Riscen

2-7-05