Alicia Dixon of Benton named January Pearl of the Month

GSSI is pleased to announce that Alicia Dixon of Benton has been named the January Pearl of the Month. The Pearl of the Month Award recognizes a Girl Scout volunteer who has delivered service beyond expectations and helped to ensure that the approximately 14,000 Girl Scouts in southern Illinois benefit from a premier Girl Scout Leadership Experience.  Nominees must meet several criteria, including completion of all required training for his or her volunteer position as well as providing outstanding service to his or her Service Unit or the Council.

Alicia serves as Troops Leader for Troops #8039 and #8044.  She is also Service Unit Director for SU 51/ North Franklin County.  This year, she organized a Cookie Rally that 100 girls attended to kick off the Girl Scout Cookie Program. She is always recruiting more Girl Scouts, even though over 230 girls are currently part of the organization in her area.   She also goes beyond expectations to make things fun and interesting for volunteers.  For example, she shares a recipe that uses Girl Scout Cookies during every volunteer meeting.  Her peers consider her a true role model for both girls and adults.

 

The mission of Girl Scouting states:  Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place.   Girl Scouts is the world's pre-eminent organization dedicated solely to girls - all girls - where, in an accepting and nurturing environment, girls build character and skills for success in the real world.  In partnership with committed adults, girls develop qualities that will serve them all their lives - like strong values, social conscience, and conviction about their own potential and self-worth.

 

Today’s Girl Scouts not only enjoy camping and crafts, but they also explore math and science and learn about diversity, good citizenship, leadership and teamwork.  Girl Scouting is the place where girls experience the fun, friendship and power of girls together. Girl Scouting has inspired more than 50 million girls and women since its founding in 1912. 

Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois is a not-for-profit organization supported by various United Ways throughout the region.  Girl Scouts is a Proud Partner of United Way.

Nicole Plegge: How Your Gifts Help Our Girls

Nicole Plegge, Fund Development Manager

I am the proud mom of a Daisy. For the past two years, I – or my husband who’s grown accustomed to being surrounded by XX chromosomes – have joined our six-year-old, Mia, on Girl Scout adventures to skating rinks, swimming pools and Camp Torqua, and swelled with pride over her troop’s community service efforts.

Getting my daughter into a troop was easy – we live in suburbia where there’s a variety of community resources and volunteers. But for hundreds of girls in southern Illinois, Girl Scouting would be out of their reach if it wasn’t for the generosity of incredible donors who made a financial gift to GSSI this year.

With your support, GSSI provides leadership and educational programming to 1,200 girls in inner-city schools and public housing complexes at no cost to their families. In addition, we deliver girl-specific programming at the Madison County Detention Center to help empower 70 female juvenile offenders to make positive lifestyle changes. Overall, more than $150,000 in financial assistance is provided by GSSI throughout our region to ensure every girl has the opportunity to become a Girl Scout.

Your generous donations also help maintain our six camps across the region, increase our STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) efforts, and keep our programming costs low, which is especially important for a family like mine whose curious six-year-old wants to try anything and everything.

Girl Scouts has provided Mia more than access to fun activities and educational programs. The organization has welcomed her into a family of fellow Girl Scouts, amazing troop leaders and caring volunteers who go above and beyond to help one another. Yet, until I started working as a development manager at GSSI last month, I never realized how the big that family is – it’s truly a community of 14,000 families, 5,000 volunteers, and countless caring individuals, companies and organizations dedicated to helping our daughters achieve the incredible.

On behalf of GSSI, the 14,000 girls we serve, and my own little Girl Scout, I thank you for your support of our girls this past year and hope you’ll join us for incredible things to come in 2013!