Talk to me about Girl Scouts...

Daisies in particular.

Girl Scouting was HUGE in my life all growing up, I was a GS until 9th grade or so. I LOVED it....

My DD just started Kindegarten, and I really wanted her to be involved in Scouting. We just got the paper home for the info night, which is in 2 weeks.

I would LOVE to be a scout leader, but just from looking online, it looks like there is quite a bit of training involved; it looks like 3 three hour training seminars over the first 3 months as a leader. Is this the case, or are some of these optional?

Also, what kind of financial burden am I taking on by becoming a leader? Is this something that's going to be a huge investment, or do the contributions/dues from the parents make up most of the money that's used for the troop? I have tons of time to volunteer, but $$ is pretty tight, if you know what I mean.

I will take any info you have, good, bad and ugly! TIA!!!

Re: Talk to me about Girl Scouts...

I'm in the midst of starting a Daisy troop!

For GSSC (Girl Scouts of Suffolk County) there are 6 mandatory hours of training (split into 2, 3 hour courses - orientation and journey to daisy). You also need to be CPR/First Aid certified (which you can do anywhere or with the GS).

I've been through the first 3 hours, and have the 2nd half on the 17th. I'm getting CPR/First Aid certified through the fire house. You can do orientation (3hrs) and daisy journey (3hrs) OR dazzler (6hrs).

There's really no financial burden to the leader (other than your CPR courses). The troop is supposed to fund themselves through fundraising and dues. BUT it will be hard not to lay out some money yourself in the beginning since you don't have any funds to start with (for ex: it costs $12 to register yourself as leader but you can pay yourself back when funds become available).

Have you filled out the volunteer application? It takes a few weeks to get approved (they contact your references, etc). I suggest you call the field director and see if there's a need for another troop in your school. If not, you may be able to co-lead with another troop leader or just be a 'registered parent' to help with the troop but avoid all the training.

(ETA: poster below makes a good point - I clarified that the above is for Suffolk)

Message edited 10/5/2011 1:28:21 PM.

Re: Talk to me about Girl Scouts...

Every council is different as far as how they handle training. I am in Nassau County and I was able to do all of the 3 training sessions online. I had them done within about a week or so, they were pretty quick and I did it after DD went to bed.

If I want to take the troop camping this spring (which they are allowed to do as 2nd year daisies) I will have to go to trip/camp training which includes an overnight! That should be fun, pregnant!

As far as the financial responsibilities, really the leader should not be paying for a thing out of pocket. This is a volunteer position. I collect $10/month dues to cover snacks, supplies, water, etc. Some leaders collect more all at once in the beginning and do not collect monthly dues.

There are a lot of ways that you can handle things. If you need a lot of supplies in the beginning you can ask parents for donations. I am sure they'd be happy to supply old crayons, construction paper, etc.

Also find out who your CAV is, that is the person who is in charge of your local association, and she can assist you in getting supplies. My association has a supply swap day where we all bring extra materials that we don't need and we swap amoung troops. It is a good way for older troops to pass on foam stickers, felt, craft supplies that they no longer use with the older girls. If they don't do something like this in your area maybe you can take the initiative and set it up.

Also we are in the middle of the Fall Product Sale right now -- Mags & Munchies --- magazines and nuts/candy. Last year my troop got $115 from the fall product sale and it was helpfull in "keeping us going" until we had accumulated some money in our troop account.

You can also ask parents to sign up for snack months, instead of the troop providing snack, if money is an issue. So Mom A would sign up for October, Mom B November, Mom C December, etc. Just share with them if there are any allergies in the troop if need be.

If you need any more info, please feel free to FM me. I was a junior leader years ago for my younger sister, and now I am a daisy leader for Emily. I love Girl Scouts!!

Melissa

Re: Talk to me about Girl Scouts...

Thank you SOOOO much!

I know they got a late start on everything this year because some important person in our area stepped down and they weren't able to find a replacement, so I'm pretty sure we are going to miss the fall fundraising stuff.

Thanks for all your ideas and suggestions. I can't wait to get started, and I'm sure I will have tons of questions for you ladies!

Re: Talk to me about Girl Scouts...

I signed on to FM someone about a scouting trip in our town and saw this.

I'm in Nassau, so I was able to do all the training online. Once the background check was done we could get started meeting with the girls.

Our Daisy troop started late last year too, our first meeting was the last week of October.

This year I don't pay anything out of pocket, we use the troop credit card or check book. Last year we did but it got reimbursed from the troop account as soon as we collected dues.

We collect $50 per girl for troop dues each year. That covers the room rental cost (we use a classroom) and the weekly craft, patches, etc. Parents take turns bringing snack. We meet roughly every other week for 1.5 hours.

We had 15 girls last year and made over $500 for the troop from the cookie sale. We were too late for Mags & Munchies last year and chose not to do it this year. It's the same junk as the school fundraiser going on at the same time and we didn't think we'd make enough to justify it since our troop is smaller this year.

The new Daisy books are great and make it super easy to work on the patches. The council has a lot of resources you can borrow to help plan meetings, field trips, earn fun patches, etc.

IMO, the most important thing is making sure you really get along with your co-leader(s). I have 2 co-leaders and we all get along well, have a similar philosophy about how we want to handle the troop and what we want to accomplish for the year.

Some people are super gung-ho about scouting and do a lot of trips and events with their troop. Some people are more laid back and do mostly meetings and a few trips. As long as you are all on the same page it'll go well.

Good luck, it's a lot of fun. My dd just told me yesterday that she loves that I get to be her troop leader, which makes it totally worth it.

Re: Talk to me about Girl Scouts...

If anyone is doing Daisy training at Edey in he next 2 weeks FM me. Maybe we can meet up