What are the suggested first steps? Review the information on our council's website. Fill out your volunteer application and registration forms: The volunteer application is filled out one time only but you register as an adult Girl Scout once a year. You also need to submit 3 references using the reference form. Currently, the dues are $12 each year. You'll also fill out an adult health history form when you complete your troop paperwork. Volunteer Essentials Book: Each troop receives one paper copy of this book. It contains extremely important information and forms that you'll need. Familiarize yourself with the book so that you know where to find information when you need it. Other volunteers in the troop who do not have a paper copy can view it online at council's website. Troop: Work with your service unit Membership Organizer to put together your troop, set up meetings, and pull together your troop registration paperwork. Create a communication system that works for you to keep parents informed and to recruit other troop volunteers. Leader Meetings: We meet the first Thursday of every month. This is a great place to meet other leaders so you can share information and ask questions. Get trained: Sign up for the training that you need. The required trainings are provided to you at no cost and much of it can be completed online. At this time program level training is only available in a classroom setting. See the training section below. Read up: Read about the Girl Scout Leadership Experience and the 15 Girl Scout Leadership Outcomes. What’s a service unit and who is council? Service Unit: A service unit is a group of troops. We belong to service unit 718 which represents approximately 300 girls in 30 troops attending school district 157-C. We recruit new girls and volunteers; provide information to leaders; organize service unit events; and promote Girl Scouts in our community.Council: Our
service unit is part of the Girl Scouts
of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana council. Girl Scouts GCNWI is one of
the largest councils in the country, representing approximately 90,000 girl
members and 23,000 adult volunteers in Illinois and northwest Indiana. Council
provides training to adult volunteers and provides program opportunities for
troops and individual girl members. Who do I ask for what? Leader Meetings: Leader meetings are held once a month to fill you in on new service unit and program information. They also serve as an opportunity to meet other leaders for swapping ideas. Morning meetings are held on a monthly basis and you are strongly encouraged to attend. The meeting calendar is on the calendar and in the leader section of our website. Service Unit Team/Committees: The service unit team has openings from time-to-time for volunteers wishing to help make Frankfort Girl Scouts a stronger organization. Committees are formed for all service unit events, which are held monthly throughout the school year. The committees are a great opportunity to meet other volunteers and the volunteer work looks great on a resume! What
training do I need?
Uniforms/books: Uniforms are not required to be a Girl Scout. You can either collect money from parents and purchase everything for them or advise them what to purchase at the Shop themselves. The Girl Scout Promise Center
and Shop Email: jolietshop@girlscoutsgcnwi.org Online at www.girlscoutsgcnwi.org/shop Dues, snacks, etc.: You will need to collect enough money for troop supplies or you can ask parents to donate specific troop supplies (paper, crayons, markers, glue, etc.). Most leaders purchase supplies on an as needed basis for specific activities. You also need to decide if you will purchase and bring snacks yourself or have a snack parent at each meeting. Daisy petals are usually purchased as part of the uniform, but all other program levels purchase badges as they are earned. Keep in mind if you sell fall product in October, it is an easy way to quickly get money in your account. However, you’ll probably want to still collect about $35 a girl to get started and to hold you over until you get earnings from cookies in January. Badges are $1.25 each. An active troop will easily earn 10 badges a year. Cookie sales are in January and you will collect money for the second half of your year or to put towards special activities and/or parties.
How many parents should I recruit? Volunteers who help out the troop on a regular basis or those who help carpool need to register as an adult Girl Scout each year. The first year, they also need to fill out the Volunteer and Adult Health History Form as well. Product Sales/Cookie Parent: This can be one person or two separate people. Important: the cookie parent MUST register as an adult Girl Scout and fill out a volunteer application. They will also need to complete the cookie sales online training when it is made available. Snack Parent(s): Optional position that works for some troops, not for others. Troop Volunteer(s): It’s a good idea to find out about the talents and abilities of troop parents so you can tap them to help out on specific projects. The more the parents get involved, the more likely that the family will stay interested in Girl Scouts.
How do I arrange field trips? Notify Service Unit: As soon as you book a field trip, please email frankfortgirlscouts@gmail.com to notify where you are taking a field trip. This will serve as notification to Girl Scouts so you are covered by insurance. Notify the school: If you meet at school and you are taking a field trip on one of your scheduled meeting dates, send an email to the appropriate school secretary to let them know that your troop will not be meeting. Grand Prairie: Michelle Barrera
– mbarrera@fsd157c.org Send out the Parent Permission Slip: Download, fill out and save the interactive parent permission form to your computer. You can email it to your parents for them to sign and return back to you.
How do I learn best practices from other leaders? Attend leader meetings if possible: Service unit leader meetings are a great place to network with other leaders.
Do you have any tips on working with the girls?
Where do I find information and ideas online? Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana Council information; forms; council programs and registration; training information and registration; online council shop; day and resident camp information; alumnae information. Girl Scout program information; advocacy; research results; program outcomes; national online shop (please purchase from the council stores and website when possible because a percentage of sales stays in our local area for local programs and services).
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Leader Information >
