Ben’s Bells: Patient grateful for Brownies’ efforts

February 21st, 2012

Kimberly Matas Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Saturday, February 18, 2012 12:00 am | Comments

The recipient of this week’s Ben’s Bell is Brownie Troop 347, which is helping a family with medical bills.

The girls were nominated by Patricia Jordan, a 38-year-old mother of five who is undergoing treatment for an aggressive type of breast cancer. In addition she is also caring for her 3-year-old triplets, one of whom was born with cerebral palsy.

After overhearing a conversation about Jordan’s struggles, two of the Brownies decided to forgo gifts at their upcoming birthday parties and ask that money be donated to the Jordan family instead. Others in Troop 347 followed suit. The girls also sold coffee and cocoa to raise money and organized a benefit yard sale. Brownies and their families even prepared meals for Jordan and her family. And they created a Facebook page for Jordan. Their next show of support is organizing a team for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in March.

Jordan met the troop for the first time when they were belled recently.

“All 18 of them – they all wanted to help me and my family,” she said. “I didn’t have the right words to express my gratitude to these wonderful little girls.

“It’s just so much. That is the true spirit of giving and kindness. Their parents have to be so proud of them,” said Jordan, who is bracing for upcoming double mastectomy.

Because her treatment will continue for another year, she is considering using the money raised by the troop to pay for babysitting services following surgery when she will need radiation treatments five days a week.
Read more: http://azstarnet.com/news/local/ben-s-bells-patient-grateful-for-brownies-efforts/article_fb5bbd1d-9ddd-5f39-be74-54fec1e5ea3f.html#ixzz1myqrwWm2

 

 

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Take Action for Healthy MEdia

February 20th, 2012

February 20, 2012

We love our favorite magazines, TV shows, and movies, right? But we don’t love how they sometimes chip away at our confidence and body image. The need for more positive images of girls in the media is clear and the time for change is now!

Last year U.S. House Representatives Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) introduced the Healthy Media for Youth Act (H.R. 4925) to establish a national taskforce to develop voluntary guidelines and other measures to promote positive images of girls and women. The bill, developed in conjunction with the Girl Scouts, would support media literacy programs, promote research on the effects of media images, and encourage the adoption of voluntary guidelines to promote healthier media images for young people.

Efforts are also being made at the state level to improve Arizona’s girls’ self-esteem and literacy media skills. Last week state Representative Katie Hobbs of Phoenix introduced HB 2793- a bill that would require advertisers to issue a disclaimer whenever a print ad used “post-production techniques” such as Photo shopping or airbrushing. While the bill did not pass out of committee, Representative Hobbs was happy to get the conversation going stating, “My daughter is starting to be interested in magazines… and I want her to know that it’s not possible for her to look like that and it’s OK that she doesn’t.”

Why is Girl Scouts deeply committed to media messaging? Because of you!

You asked and we listened:

The Girl Scout Research Institute’s survey, Girls and Body Image (2010), revealed alarming statistics about teen girls’ relationships with the media and fashion industry.

  • Nearly 90% of girls surveyed say the media places a lot of pressure on girls to be thin
  • 60% of girls compare themselves to models
  • Body dissatisfaction can result from this comparison, and leads to serious health problems, such as unhealthy eating and dieting habits
  • More than half of girls, 55%, admit they diet to lose weight and
  • 31% admit to starving themselves or refusing to eat as a strategy to lose weight.

Negative body images aren’t the only cause for concern.

  • Only 32% of African American girls think the fashion industry does a good job of representing people of all racses and ethnicities.
  • Less than 1/3 of speaking characters in children’s movies are female.
  • Sexualized messages and images of girls and women also negatively impact boys.

With your concerns in mind and statistics to back up our finding, we are now in prime condition to take action and advocate.

Are you interested in taking action and promoting healthy media? Here are some ideas below:

  1. Share your thoughts- Do you think the media goes too far with digitally altered images?
  2. Spread the word to your networks! Promote the cause through social media and blog about it on your favorite sites. Join the Healthy Media for Youth Act facebook page.
  3. Check out the Public Policy and Advocacy website: http://www.girlscouts4girls.org/girlscouts/home/

Other Articles to check out:

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Sporty Girls take over the volleyball court

February 20th, 2012

Sporty Girls showed their volleyball skills on Saturday the 18th at Pima Community College West Campus. Head Coach of the PCC Women’s Volleyball team, Dan Bithell, hosted the Girl Scouts at their gym and gave the girls a tour of the Training Room, Weight room, and the Volleyball locker room. After the tour, the real action started. The girls learned the basics of passing, setting, and serving with the help of Pima Volleyball players and coaches and a former University of Arizona Volleyball player. The girls learned quickly and excelled at a ball control contest and serving contest. At the end of the event, the girls were able to see college level volleyball as the coaches and players showed their skills in a short scrimmage. Thank you to Pima for hosting such a fabulous event with the Girl Scouts! View the full Photo Gallery on our Facebook Page!

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Post a picture of you in your favorite space invader costume and be entered to win a FREE week of camp!

February 20th, 2012

In honor of  Camp Space Invaders, AND our new comic book: Girl Scouts in Space, we are going to play dress up! The rules are simple: Post a picture of yourself in your best Girl Scout space suit and be entered to win a free week of camp. Easy Peesy! Post you pictures on our Facebook Wall. Special points for pictures with fun captions!

Get your copy of our new comic book, Girl Scouts in Space at the Girl Scouts booth at Tucson Festival of Books! The creators of the book and other local comic book creators will be on hand to do signings, original drawings and help kids write/draw their own comic strip. You can find us at Booths 412 & 413!

Posted in Announcements, Blog Squad, Community, Day Camp, Event Pathway, STEM | No Comments »

This year’s camps more than what you think

February 20th, 2012

by Super Kristi

Most likely, we’ve all been to summer camp, or if not- you know a small child or a friend who has been. What do you remember about it? I went to several horse camps when I was younger. I got to hang out with a bunch of other Girl Scouts and learn about horsemanship. I learned tons of new songs that I still remember to this day (check out the latest song I’ve shared here) and I remember thinking that my camp counselors had to be the coolest chicks in the entire world and I wanted so much to be like them. We did lots of crafts, we were afraid of the dark, we made s’mores (which, by the way I really don’t like).

Over the last several years I’ve had the opportunity to take my love for camp and use it to plan the last couple summers for girls in Southern Arizona. Its actually pretty challenging to take a list of outcomes that you want to achieve and then take a list of activities that you think are the coolest things in the whole world and then try to mesh them together so that a craft or service project or even swimming builds on teamwork, math skills and gets girls thinking about how they can change the world. Its an incredibly exciting challenge to take on and it is totally worth it to see those 60 smiling faces each week living up to the challenge and having the time of their lives.

But, where was I going with this? Oh, right. I really wanted to tell you about this uber cool camp we have this year. When you think about camp, you think swimming, outdoors, crafts, new friends. Space exploration doesn’t immediately come to mind. This Summer, girls can attend Camp Space Invaders! What child wouldn’t want to spend their week at camp inventing the next CEV (that’s NASA talk for Crew Exploration Vehicle, a kind of spacecraft); exploring how to mine the moon for oxygen; designing a way to turn used water into clean water; and figuring out how to carry food into space. (You can register for Camp Space Invaders here)

Camp has come a long way. I’m excited about it. Are you excited about it? To check out all of this year’s camp offerings, click here, and remember- if you register ONLINE before April 1st, you get a $15 discount!

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Tucson Service Project Opportunity

February 16th, 2012

One of our local Community Partners is looking for help cleaning up neighborhoods and schools around Tucson. These are family friendly events to help make Tucson clean and beautiful and to bring communities together. For more information about the below clean up event please contact Mike Birrer 520-488-9501

Las Casitas Apt Clean Up

Saturday March 17

Las Casitas Apts, 4100 E 29th St.

9am-12noon local clean up projects, all ages can help

12 noon- lunch of sorts,

1-3pm activities for children and a few other side jobs possible

UA Neighborhood Clean Up

Saturday March 24

10am- 1pm,

local clean up in the neighborhood, meeting place TBD soon, most likely the neighborhood south of the U of A.

 

Save the Dates Projects

Saturday, Feb 25, 9am-12 noon, we have a smaller yet active group to work near 4th Ave, meet between Roskruge k-8 and Vineyard Church, 5th st. between 2nd and 3rd Ave.

April 21- 10am- 1pm, Global youth Service Day- various local schools will be targeted for service, more details to come

 

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Start your summer planning and save big on camp!

February 14th, 2012

February 14, 2012

TUCSON-  Do you have a daughter who wishes she could be the star of an investigative TV show or part of a hit Broadway musical? Does your little one dance around the living room sprinkling fairy dust? Or does your daughter simply want the chance to be outdoors and play in nature? Whatever her interest, she is in luck! Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona’s registration is open for the 2012 Summer Camp program.

This year’s camp, Let the Summer Adventure Begin, contains a variety of programs and sessions available to meet the interests and needs of all girls from your little one to your teen.  Camp options include resident camp up at Mt. Lemmon and day camp at the Girl Scouts’ Hacienda property.  From Fairy Fantasy, Show-Biz, and Horsin Around to Spy Girls, Adventure Quest, Survivor, and Design Divas- there’s something for every type of girl. In addition, GSSoAZ offers unique overnight opportunities for moms and daughters through the Mom & Me series and for girls whose parents are in the military through Operation Redshirt, a free camping experience. Kristen Culliney, Girl Scouts’ COO, has already started her summer countdown, “Our summer camps are magical places where learning and growth go hand in hand with fun and friendship. To be able to have these experiences with the gorgeous backdrop our locations provide is an extra bonus as well!”

Whether a girl goes to camp for a day, week, or longer, camp provides girls an opportunity to grow under the guidance of caring and professionally trained Girl Scout facilitators. Act now and treat your daughter to a summer of adventure. If you register online before April 1st, you will receive $15 off each camp for which you register! Your daughter will come back with memories that will last a lifetime.

Girl Scout camp begins in June and is open to all girls ages 5-17. Girl Scouts and non-Girl Scouts are welcome to attend. Financial assistance is available.

For more information on Camp and to register please visit http://www.girlscoutssoaz.org/camp or contact Kristin Wakefield, kwakefield@girlscoutssoaz.org; 520.319.3174.

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Reduce waste, win a reusable water bottle!

February 14th, 2012

How will you share this information to reduce plastic waste? Leave a comment about how you reduce plastic waste and you could win a Girl Scouts Forever Green reusable water bottle!

Posted in Announcements, Community, Forever Green Pilot | 1 Comment »

What are YOU doing for Girl Scout Week?

February 9th, 2012

As part of the Girl Scout family you most likely know that Girl Scouts turns 100 years old on March 12th! However, did you know that Girl Scout celebrations also occur during a week long period known as Girl Scout Week?

 

Girl Scout Week has been celebrated in March since 1954, and this year the celebration will run from Sunday, March 11th through Saturday, March 17th.

During this time, Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona will join Girl Scouts around the nation to make the world a better place and show the community how Girl Scouting helps create girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place!

Events:

Girl Scout Birthday, March 12

Girl Scout Birthday, March 12, commemorates the day in 1912 when Juliette Gordon Low officially registered the organization’s first 18 girl members in Savannah, Georgia.

Girl Scout Sunday and Girl Scout Sabbath

Girl Scout Sunday and Girl Scout Sabbath give girls an opportunity to attend their place of worship and be recognized as a Girl Scout. If a place of worship is the group sponsor, girls may perform a service, such as greeting, ushering, or doing a flag ceremony. These days can also be a time when girls explore other faiths.  This arrangement allows for our membership of diverse faiths to celebrate on their chosen day of worship.

The following materials have been made for Girl Scouts to use in their local communities

Bulletin Insert

Girl Scout Week Flier

GS Sunday and Sabbath Sample Materials

For more information contact Maria DeCabooter, mdecabooter@girlscoutssoaz.org, 520-319-3175

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Chocolate Festival

February 7th, 2012

 Senior/Ambassador Troop 565

Invites you to attend

Saturday March 17, 2012

LEARN ABOUT CHOCOLATE ON ST. PATRICKS DAY!!

Booths will include:

* History of Chocolate

* Cooking with Chocolate

* Different Types of Chocolate

*Chocolate and Different Cultures

***Please note, we will not have any nuts due to allergies***

         Also come and purchase goodies from our

“Chocolate Gift Shop”

There will be treats to share, make and take home as well!

When:  Saturday March 17th, 2012

Where: Emmanuel Presbyterian Church,   9252 E 22nd St

Time:  4:00- 6:00 PM

Cost:  $ 15.00 per participant

RSVP: By March 12th – to Troop_565@yahoo.com

Posted in Announcements | 2 Comments »

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