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!

Susan Gurwitch: Thank You, Girl Scouts.

Susan Gurwitch, COO

I can’t believe its December already!  It seems like 2012 has flown by!  I have been with Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois for about seven months now and I’m so thankful for everything it has brought to my life – an ability to spend more time with my husband and girls, both at home and at Girl Scout events, the confidence that Cooper and Josie have gained from Girl Scout programs, new friends and colleagues, and the chance to be a part of something so valuable to my own community.  When I left the corporate world for GSSI, I never imagined how much I would gain – the ability to see so many people doing such wonderful things, working with staff and volunteers whose hearts are so big and knowing what a difference Girl Scouts can make on our world.

I have also learned the value of volunteerism and of volunteers.  I cannot say enough to thank each and every one of you for all you do for girls.  From Day Camp Directors and volunteers to Service Unit Team Members to Troop Leaders to parents who help at programs … you are all amazing.  The time, effort, and love you give to the girls, parents and staff of GSSI is so appreciated.  It is because of each one of you that our girls get such an amazing experience. 

As we look toward 2013 and all the great things to come, I want to say thank you.  Thank you for being so welcoming and for creating something so wonderful here in Southern Illinois.   Something we can all be proud of!   I look forward to meeting more of you over the next year, hearing your stories and working together to make the world’s premier leadership organization for girls even better!

Jessica Stanley: Why Girl Scout Product Programs Matter to Me

Jessica Stanley, Product Program Manager

I just turned 30 years old as the Fall Product Program was ending and it made me take a step back and remember all of my experiences in life thus far.   I graduated from Southern Illinois University Carbondale with a Bachelors of Science in Marketing.  I remember being a freshman in college and being so overwhelmed at all of the options for degrees.  You are 18 and you have to make this major life decision that will affect you for the rest of your life, but how are you supposed to choose the right one for you?  I actually attended three different colleges and changed my major four different times before I found my love and passion for marketing and business. 

That’s why I strongly believe the Girl Scout Product Programs are so beneficial for girls.  Through these programs, girls are learning so many skills that they will be able to use for the rest of their lives.  They get to try new things. They learn business and financial skills that, no matter what career field they go into, they are able to adapt to help them succeed.   Even something as simple as learning how to set a goal and then figuring out how to achieve it makes such a big impact.  I remember a few years ago, taking girls to pick out the rewards that they earned during a Product Program.  One of the girls said to me “I wanted an ipod for a long time.  I saw we could earn one selling cookies, so I said to myself, ‘I am going to get that.”   She was kind of a quiet, humble girl, but you could tell by the look on her face that she was incredibly proud for setting and reaching her goal.  

I am so proud of all of our girls.  I think back to the Annual Meeting last March, when we recognized the girls that sold over 1,000 packages of cookies through the Girl Scout Cookie Program.   Everyone in the room stood up, clapped, and celebrated with them. Realizing that their hard work was admired was a special moment that those girls will remember for the rest of their lives and something that I will also never forget.  It meant so much to them and it puts into perspective how much these girls are gaining from being in Girl Scouting. 

The skills and experiences that girls are learning by participating in Girl Scout Product Programs will help provide them with a variety of experiences to help them understand what they want to do in life.  They will have confidence to know that if they set their mind towards achieving a goal, they will succeed. 

Gabrielle, last year's Top Cookie Seller, grins as she receives a standing ovation
from the crowd at GSSI's 2012 Annual Meeting.