GIRL SCOUTS LEADERS’ MEETING
American Club
February 7, 2012
Meeting Notes
1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Leaders approved minutes from the January 10 Leaders’ Meeting.
2. ANNOUNCEMENTS
• Flossie Tsang who helps with HKIS facilities had a baby girl
• Pitchaporn “Toffee” Jiaravanon earned and received the Gold Award for her Cheung Chau Library Project – Art in the Community
• Cassia Patel received a recognition from the President and First Lady for earning her Gold Award
• Girl Scout Uniform
- HKIS is strictly enforcing the dress code
- The uniform is a white HKIS shirt or Girl Scouts shirt, khaki pants, and the Girl Scouts vest; the vest needs to be worn at all times
- If the Girl Scout vest is not worn during the day, girls need to wear their regular HKIS uniform and put the vest on after school
• USA Girl Scouts Global Leadership Conference – April 20-22 in Japan
- Held on the Yokosuka Naval Base http://www.cnic.navy.mil/Yokosuka/index.htm
- Scholarships of $500 will be provided to 10 leaders and 10 Girl Scouts to attend
- Scholarships are first come, first served basis
- OC will pay for registration fee
- Bridging Juniors can sign up, but must register for 2012-13 Scouts and bridge before the conference
- Liz Derrick sent an email regarding the conference to leaders of troops Juniors and older
• Global Workshop, August 1-4 in New York
- Focus is on recruitment and retention strategies that leverage Global Girl Scouting, including the series and travel pathways
- 75% of travel expenses will be reimbursed
• 2012 is the Year of the Girl
- Theme is “To Get Her There”, www.togetherthere.org
- Katie Couric did an interview about Girl Scouts that can be found on YouTube
- Princess Kate was a Brownie and one of her areas of focus is Scouts
• Girl Scout Summer Camps are now open for registration
- www.camprocks.org
- www.hercamp.org
- Or check with your local Council
• Melinda Carroll Webinar – February 22 at 12 pm Eastern
- Webinar is about Girl Scouts songs and singing http://gsmusic.com/
- Go here to sign up: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/772601322
• World Wide Centennial Sunrise Ceremony – March 11 or 12
- Organized by the Historic Georgia Council
- Need a troop to volunteer to make a video
- Contact Ann or Liz for more information
• PFO Worlds Fair, April 14 – Troop 10 will do the opening flag ceremony and Troop 8 will do the closing flag ceremony
• Troop 10 needed one more Early Bird Patch - Thanks to Troop 28 who provided an extra one!
3. TREASURER’S REPORT
• Checking – 360,833.75 HKD
• Savings – 40,686.14 HKD
• Bake sales have raised nearly $10,000HK
- Troops participating in a second bake sale can keep the proceeds for their troop’s use
- Coffee is a big seller at early times; lemonade has also sold well
• Bingo Night raised $7,749HK, nearly double the amount raised last year
4. EARNED AWARDS AND PATCHES
• Global Action Earned Award
- A fun way for Girl Scouts to help with the UN’s goals to reduce poverty and address other major world concerns
- A troop only has to do one activity to earn; suggested activities are age appropriate and not hard to earn
- http://www.girlscouts.org/who_we_are/global/global_action_award/
- Submit patch order to Tonya King by Friday (February 10)
- Leaders with troops that will earn the Honor Troop Patch this year need to place orders next month; for more information on the Honor Troop Patch see: http://www.usagirlscoutshongkong.com/additional-girl-scout-recognitions.html
• World Thinking Day Earned Patch
- This patch is earned through WAGGGS
- http://www.wagggsworld.org/en/take_action/activities/wtd
• Girl Scouts Forever Green Patch
- Girls who participate in at least one Forever Green project earn this patch.
- Downloadable Pledge Cards, “I Refilled My Water Bottle” and “Flip the Switch” stickers can be found at http://www.girlscouts.org/gsforevergreen/
- Three Council sponsored Forever Green events:
§ February 24, Field trip to waste transfer station
§ March 17, Earth Hour workshop
§ April 21, Field trip to Wetlands Park
• Earned patches and badges go on the front of the vest; participation patches (like Bingo Night) go on the back.
• An Honor Troop patch order form was passed around
• Thinking Day patches will be distributed at the event
• Bingo and Take Action patches are available
5. OLD BUSINESS
• Bingo
- Thanks to Patti and Trisha for organizing the event, which got great reviews
- Thanks to Celine for organizing the hygiene kit assembly
• Soup Kitchen
- Was a very positive experience
- More than 300 cup of noodle packs were provided
- Older Brownies could do it in the future
6. TAKE ACTION
• Celine has 200 hygiene kits that troops can use for service projects
• Contact Celine as soon as possible to schedule elderly home visits
• Submit expenses for Take Action projects to Celine as soon as possible
• Cheung Chau School, March 24 – there is room for another troop to sign up
• Troops that have decorated bags for Ronald McDonald House should bring them to Thinking Day
• Gala/Spring Clean Up
- Working with AWA and Cub Scouts
- Focusing on refugee and children organizations
- Clean up starts May 4 and ends with Gala on May 14
- A list of items wanted for collection will be distributed
- Need girls to help sort
- Asia Tigers will transport the collections to the charities
§ Celine is working on a plan that would allow girls to participate in the distribution
7. COMING EVENTS
- World Thinking Day – February 11, 9:00 to 11:45 am
- 14 girl led stations
- Two Daisies will be assigned to each Brownie troop for the rotation
- Participants need to bring $5HK and a water bottle
- A snack will be provided
- Daisies are invited to attend, but will not create the booths.
§ R2 Daisies should come from 9-10:15;
§ Grade 1 Daisies 10:30-11:45;
§ Parent to child ratio is 1:2
• SITA Field Trip – February 24
- Buses will leave from Lower Primary immediately after school
- Need to sign up all people (adults and students) who plan to attend
- Sign up is on the OC Calendar at www.usagirlscoutshongkong.com
• Father Daughter Dance – March 10
- Need RSVPs back at the March 6 leaders’ meeting
- Bring lucky draw prizes (two per troop) to the March 6 leaders’ meeting
• Forever Green – March
- Sign up is available for Saturday March 17 workshop; contact Nahid Iyer for more information
- Troops need to sign up to make posters and distribute light bulbs during conferences on April 22nd and 23rd
• Forever Green – April
- Field trip to the Hong Kong Wetland Reserve on April 21
- 40 people (adults and children) can participate
- Sign up is on OC Calendar
- Contact Molly Saunders or Donna Massey for more information
• Other events:
- Next leaders’ meeting – March 6
- Brownie Consulate visit – March 14
§ RSVP due to Kathleen Carlson on February 7
- Bake Sales – March 18, May 19
- Honor Troop Form Due – April 10
8. NEW BUSINESS
• Camp
- Two companies, Dragonfly and Asian Pacific Adventures have been asked to submit proposals for Camp 2012
- Asian Pacific Adventures presented their qualifications and proposal to leaders; Dragonfly will make a presentation at a future meeting
• 2012-13 Calendar
- Movie night has been a big success for raising funds; need to determine if it will continue
- In September a Saturday workshop will be held in partnership with the League of Women voters for the US Election; the workshop will include
§ Election Trivia
§ Republican/Democrat debate
§ Mock election
- Girl Scouts may be able to assist the League of Women Voters at Election Central on Election Day
- Cookie Shine
§ Consensus was to re-instate Cookie Shine with a focus on giving to others
§ May want to consider doing swaps for the event and caroling in the HKIS neighborhood
- A leader and committee needs to be established for both the election event and Cookie Shine
9. MEETING ADJOURNED
Girl Scout Leaders’ Meeting
February 7, 2012 Meeting Notes
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