Girl Scouts of Eastern Iowa & Western Illinois

Moline Dispatch/Rock Island Argus columnist John Marx discusses in his Jan. 1 column his personal thoughts about Girl Scout Cookies!

http://qconline.com/archives/qco/print_display.php?id=419838

Labels: cookies column

We hope the new year finds you and yours in good health, with all the blessings of your friends and family around you.

The beginning of the year always is a great time for Girl Scouts as our girls start another successful year of selling in our Cookie Sale Program. It’s an exciting time for Girl Scouts of Eastern Iowa & Western Illinois as all our neighbors, friends, family and co-workers are exposed to Girl Scouts once again during the sale, whether through door-to-door contact, phone calls or cookie booth sales.

The winter time also is when resident camp is on the mind of our staff, our camp directors, our counselors and – of course – our girls! With the addition of a new outdoor program director to our staff in recent months, we are excited about the lineup of camp offerings that we will be presenting to our girls for the summer. Keep an eye in your mailbox and on our Web site at www.GSEIWI.org for details.

Thank you for all you do for girls. We know you agree that Girl Scouts is one of the soundest investments you can make in girls for their future.

Best regards,

Diane T. Nelson

CEO, Girl Scouts of Eastern Iowa & Western Illinois

Labels: CEO holiday 2009

Labels: Girl Scouts troop service area

If you have the opportunity to visit Sandburg Mall in Galesburg, Ill., during the holiday shopping season, check out the display for Girl Scouts of Eastern Iowa & Western Illinois.

Your council has set up a display in a cart near the Bergner's department store in the mall. The display offers the following:

-- Volunteer opportunities information
-- Cookie sales information
-- Items from the Girl Scout Shop
-- Information on upcoming local events for Girl Scouts in Knox, Henry and Mercer counties
-- Information on Girl Scout gift memberships for the holidays
-- General council and Girl Scout information

We're also interested to know what you think of our display if you have the chance to drop by and check it out.

Tell your friends and families, too!

Labels: display cookies mall Galesburg

LET THE JOURNEY BEGIN!
Six visually impactful modules explain all you need to know about the Girl Scout Leadership Experience.

Click the title above for a full explanation of the key features and benefits of the Girl Scout Leadership Experience including: journeys, pathways, three keys to leadership, three processes and outcomes.

Over the last several months, the GSEIWI Adult Development Department has been busy introducing the new Girl Scout Leadership Experience and the leadership journeys to volunteers at Kickoff meetings, volunteer trainings and Super Saturday events throughout the council.

We hope that you'll send us a "postcard" (post a comment by clicking the link below or send an e-mail to AdultLearning @GSEIWI.org) to share how you and your girls have enjoyed your travels along this new Girl Scout journey.

Here are a few questions that would be helpful to our council and GSUSA in shaping future resources and trainings.

• If you attended Leadership Essentials training, how helpful has it been to you as a leader? What could be improved?
• Are your girls using the leadership journeys? What do they like best? What improvements wold they suggest? (Please include the grade level for your girls.)
• Are you using the adult guide for the leadership journeys? What do you like best? What improvements would you suggest? (Please include the grade level for your girls.)
• How has your troop incorporated other Girl Scout awards, events or field trips into the journey curriculum?
• What are your girls planning for their Take Action project?
• What other topics/activities would your girls like to see in future journeys?

All of your suggestions and ideas will provide greatly-appreciated feedback for program and adult development staff at both the council level and the national level. Thank you for sharing your voice!

Labels: Girl Scout Leadership Experience, Girl Scouts, journeys

Each Service Center throughout the council had a Halloween costume and best pumpkin contest. And the winners were...

Cedar Rapids Service Center
It is a tight race in Cedar Rapids. With a total entry pool of zero pumpkins and two costumes, it is unclear who our winner would be. Kirk Watson as “Dog” or Jenn Ritch as “Gypsy/Renaissance Wench”? Only effective use of the democratic system will tell. The race was too close to call. Both win!




Rock Island Service Center


Costume contest winner goes to Claudia Reich, TITANIC SURVIVOR. Pumpkin contest winner goes to Kim Kirby with her Harley Girl Pumpkin.







Waterloo Service Center


Best Pumpkin goes to Val and her Mummy. And best costume goes to Nicole for her Toga Fairy costume, see the group shot of all of us too!

Dubuque Service Center
Michael Capek won the prize for Best Costume! He was a wounded Boy Scout. He even had some staff convinced that he was actually hurt. Sorry, no picture.

West Burlington Service Center
Ann Hulett won best pumpkin.

Nearly 100 cases of Girl Scout Cookies were delivered yesterday; they will be used for promotional purposes prior to the start of the sale in January. But once the first shipment arrives, we'll have Girl Scout Cookies delivered to the office until the last case leaves in May! So we're cleaning closets here at the office, getting ready for the 2009 Cookie Sale Program.

One of the things we found was a word magnet set from the 2008 Cookie Sale Program. I love these sets--easy poetry at your fingers!

So I thought I'd let you all play along at home. The words are listed below, use as many as you want to make a phrase or poem and add it as a comment or send an email to HillaryB(at)GSEIWI(dot)org and I'll add it for you.

Here's my three poems:

• I do so girls believe.
• We volutneer to create hope.
• Others dream and you initiate action.

Here are the words. Feel free to add -ing, -ed or -s, if you need to. Have fun!

a, action, and, believe, can, challenge, create, discover, do, dream, encourage, energize, girls, give, grow, hope, I, imagine, initiate, inspire, laugh, lead, learn, motivate, my, others, reach, reward, shine, so, they, to, we, we're, will, with, volunteer, you

Labels: Girl Scouts, inspirational message, poems, words

Labels: Girl Scout Share Story

Are you wondering what your local Girl Scouts will be selling this fall during the Fall Product Sale?

Here's a sneak peek at the items that will be available Nov. 1-9 this year:

http://www.gseiwi.org/FPS/FPS_products.asp

Please welcome to our Dubuque Service Center Brooke Gassman, at left, and Stephanie Carmichael, at right.

Brooke Gassman is from Dubuque and is the new development manager for the Dubuque Service Center.

She is responsible for developing and managing the Girl Scouts’ annual giving campaign, researching and producing funding proposals and providing support to the council’s fundraising program.

Brooke most recently worked as development and marketing director for Opening Doors in Dubuque. She has more than six years experience in fund development.

She is a Dubuque native and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree from Upper Iowa University in 2000.

Stephanie Carmichael of Dubuque has moved from the council’s Quad Cities Service Center to the Dubuque Service Center as regional membership manager for Cedar, Clinton, Jones and Jackson counties in Iowa.

Steph started as a regional membership manager in May and began working with the Girl Scouts' Quad Cities Service Center as an outreach assistant in October 2007.

As regional membership manager, Steph is responsible for increasing and maintaining girl and adult volunteer participation in planning, organizing and implementing Girl Scouting in her territory in conformity with council goals and standards.

She formerly worked in the newspaper and printing industry for 10 years prior to working for the Girl Scouts. She’s attending Scott Community College majoring in psychology and will be attending Clarke College in Dubuque in the fall of 2009.

Her parents, Cindy and Jim Gehn, are from LeClaire, Iowa, and a younger sister, Alysia Gehn, is stationed with the Navy in Florida.

For more information about Girl Scouts in the Dubuque area, check the council’s Web site at www.GSEIWI.org or call 563-583-9169.

Town Hall Meetings are your chance to voice your thoughts, concerns and ideas directly to GSEIWI board members and leadership team members. For those of you who could not attend a meeting, share your comments/ideas here.