2014 Samoa Soiree

Chef Kisha Frazier's winning
Key Lime Samoas Tarts

On February 8, top chefs in Hampton Roads competed in the 6th annual Samoa Soiree, an annual fundraising event hosted by Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast, where Girl Scout Cookies are used to create unique desserts and appetizers. This year’s competitors included returning champion Chef Kisha Frazier of Chesapeake, who took home the award for judge’s choice for favorite dessert for her Thin Mints-inspired macaroons in 2013. This year, her Key Lime Samoas Tarts stole the show, winning Best in Show and People’s Choice for Favorite Dessert.

Frazier’s popularity as a pastry chef has been growing for the past four years since she opened Terebinth Patisserie and Bistro in Chesapeake. She has closed Terebinth, but her sweet treats are still available at her new location—Hummingbird Macarons located inside Now That’s Good Cooking Culinary Studio in Chesapeake, as well as a kiosk at MacArthur Center in Norfolk.

For Frazier, participating in the Samoa Soiree is about much more than the friendly culinary competition. It’s about supporting the Girl Scouts, an organization that helped to shape her life and today. Frazier vividly remembers cooking a Sunrise sandwich over a campfire with Girl Scouts—an experience that helped her chart a course in culinary arts.

“I still remember how great that open-faced sandwich tasted,” Frazier said. “We hollowed out the center so we could cook the egg in the middle, and sprinkled the outer edges with cheese. Not only did it taste great, but I experienced it at a campsite in Hawaii with 20 of my favorite Girl Scout friends!”

Her experiences in Girl Scouting, earning badges, including the cooking badge, and learning to take risks in and out of the kitchen, inspired her to pursue her dream to be a chef and take the risk of being a business owner.

Frazier started out as a banquet server, and she discovered that she enjoyed making sure that people had an enjoyable dining experience. This prompted her to attend Johnson and Wales University and then receieve accreditation in food and beverage management at Norfolk State University. Following her schooling, she was the opening chef at Nordstrom Café. She also worked as the school server manager at a top private school before opening Terebinth. Now, as the owner and pastry chef at Hummingbird Macarons, Frazier can focus on the things she does best—including macaroons and tarts.

Read more about Samoa Soiree here and view photos here.

Chef Kisha Frazier (second from right) with friends in front of her table at
the 6th annual Samoa Soiree.

Dedication of Oma's Daisies' Boathouse at Camp Skimin

On Sunday, December 8 Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast hosted a dedication ceremony of Oma’s Daisies’ Boathouse at Camp Skimino in Williamsburg. This facility was constructed during the fall thanks to a generous donation of $25,000 from Marion Kaurup. This much-needed boathouse will help to ensure that generations of girls can enjoy canoeing on the camp’s pond.

Marion Kaurup and GSCCC CEO Tracy Keller in the boathouse.

During the ceremony, Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast CEO Tracy Keller spoke about the many skills girls gain through program activities such as canoeing and how this gift will enhance the waterfront activities at Camp Skimino. Chair of the Board Melissa Burroughs also spoke and took part in commemorating Kaurup's generous donation with the presentation of the boathouse tribute plaque. Two benches, located next to the boathouse, were also presented to honor Marion and pay tribute to her late husband Arthur.

Marion was asked to speak during the dedication ceremony. She recalled how she was recruited to lead her daughter's Girl Scout Junior troop in the 1950's when the family lived in Brooklyn, New York. She later volunteered to be a Girl Scout Daisy leader when the program was launched in 1984 by GSUSA.

During the dedication program, Marion and her daughter Carol, along with other family members, took part in a sing along led by Girl Scout Alumna Jo Bazar. Kaurup was proud that she still remembered many of the songs from her early Girl Scout years and beamed with a big smile when she taught guests an extra verse to the song Make New Friends!

 Marion shared with guests that camping, canoeing and doing community service projects to support the church where the troop met were some of her favorite memories.She added that she was making new memories in Girl Scouts, thanks to her grandson, Jody Kaurup, who serves as GSCCC's Property Manager. He keeps her up to date with national Girl Scout news and sends her photos of the happenings at GSCCC.

The dedication ceremony was followed by refreshments and a tour of the camp.

National Girl Scout Recruitment Week

As part of National Girl Scout Recruitment Week, Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast will be hosting a series of literacy awareness events on Sunday, October 6. The events, Girls Who Read Lead, will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. and offer hands-on activities and information booths, as well as introduce girls to special speakers. Current members of Girl Scouts who wear their uniform or Girl Scout T-shirt and bring a friend to register to be a member will receive a free gift!

WAVY-TV Anchor Cheryl Tan will be present at the Meyera E. Oberndorf Central Library location in Virginia Beach. Other guests include: American Girl book author Sharon Cindrich, The Virginian-Pilot reporter Kathy Adams, blogger and author Maggie Ruch, Spectrum Puppets and Theatrix Productions Children’s Theater. Two Virginia Beach Girl Scouts will also speak - Erin Winebrenner will share her literacy-related Girl Scout Gold Award project that benefited the Samaritan House, and Julia Inglesby will share her experience as one of eight girls from across the country that represented Girl Scouts at the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education.

These events are an opportunity for girls and their families to learn about Girl Scouting and register to become a member of the premiere organization for girls, as well as learn the importance of reading, writing and communicating. Research shows that girls with enriched literacy skills attain higher levels of education, are more apt to achieve higher-paying jobs, and are more likely to hold leadership positions in their communities.

National Girl Scout Recruitment Week is being launched with the help of First Lady Michelle Obama, our Honorary National President who is also an advocate for literacy. The First Lady has taped a video highlighting the importance of volunteering for Girl Scouts. We ask that you help us get the word out about Girl Scouting by sharing this video!

You can read more about the national campaign to recruit new members on the Washington Post website here. The nationally syndicated television show The Daily Buzz has done a segment with a volunteer and two Girl Scouts that is airing across the country. You can view the segment online.

Visit Girls Who Read Lead event page for details. Thank you WAVY-TV 10, FOX43 and TidewaterParent.com for sponsoring Girls Who Read Lead!

Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast Hold Gold Award Alliance Event

Women who earned the top award in Girl Scouting, now called the Girl Scout Gold Award, gathered at Natural Elements Day Spa and Salon in Chesapeake on September 20 for a networking event. The Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast held the event to locally launch the Gold Award Alliance which is a national Girl Scout alumnae effort. Natural Elements, co-owned by Girl Scout alumnae Suzanne Garcia and Audrey Brown, offered guests a variety of free services during the event that included manicures, hair consultations and facials. 

Girl Scout alumnae guests also shared stories about their experiences in Girl Scouting - their projects they completed to earn the Girl Scout Gold Award, or one of its predecessors, including First Class and Curved Bar. Girl Scout alumnae and Gold Award recipients Leslie Clements and Jennifer Merritt, who were in the same troop for many years, had fun reconnecting at the event. Clements now teaches English courses at Virginia Wesleyan College and Tidewater Community College and says her Gold Award project was a natural beginning for what she does now as a teacher.

Both Clements and Merritt agree that earning the Girl Scout Gold Award helped to give them confidence and set them up to be successful beyond high school.

“It gave me the opportunity to do something independently,” Merritt said. “The leadership skills I gained while learning how to work on a project on my own have come in handy in my professional life.”

The Gold Award Alliance was formed as an opportunity for women who earned the highest award in Girl Scouting to reconnect with one another, as well as to mentor girls who are currently working on earning the Girl Scout Gold Award and to help increase recognition of the Gold Award and Girl Scouting in the community. Those interested in joining the alliance can email alumni@gsccc.org.

Today, less than 6 percent of eligible Girl Scouts nationwide earn the Girl Scout Gold Award, which makes these women part of an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor.

I Have a Dream - 50th Anniversary of March on Washington

An article about Girl Scouts was published in TIME magazine’s special edition about the March on Washington. The story, sponsored by AT&T and Geico, charts the Movement's long and proud legacy of diversity and inclusion and notes Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s statement that Girl Scouts was a “force for desegregation.”
TIME also hosted a roundtable discussion in Washington, D.C., that included Anna Maria Chávez, Chief Executive Officer of GSUSA, Lydia Soto-Harmon, Chief Executive Officer of the Girl Scout Council of the Nation’s Capital, and a number of others.

In addition, Anna has written a column for the Huffington Post, which also focuses on Girl Scouting and our commitment to diversity. “We have come a long way since Dr. King's dream inspired our nation to root out racism a half a century ago,” Anna writes. “Now, as then, we still have a lot of work to do for that dream to become a reality—but we are making progress.

To honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and our Girl Scout commitment to diversity, consider introducing girls to the GSCCC I Have a Dream council badge.

Beazley Foundation Awards Grant to Girl Scouts of Colonial Coast

Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast has been approved to receive a $10,000 grant from the Beazley Foundation to serve at least 50 girls who live in at-risk areas in Portsmouth. The girls will participate in financial literacy, healthy living, and environmental activities. There will also be opportunities for teen girls to participate in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) projects, as well as career exploration activities. Additionally, the girls served through this grant will participate in the new Girl Scouts of the USA bullying prevention series, BFF: Be a Friend First, which teaches girls how to build social and emotional skills, the importance of respecting others and ways to make healthy and responsible decisions. 

“Helping girls living in at-risk areas today may prevent poverty and illiteracy in their future,"Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast CEO Tracy Keller said. “If we don’t invest in preventative programs, such as the high-quality ones offered by Girl Scouts, we run the risk of our young people engaging in high-risk behaviors that have economic and social implications.”

The Girl Scout Leadership Experience will have a lasting impact on the girls who participate. The Girl Scout Research Institute has found that women who were Girl Scouts display a more positive sense of self, are more engaged in community service, are more civically engaged and attain higher levels of education than women who were never Girl Scouts.

The girls served through this grant will receive handbook resources,Girl Scout uniforms, and will be able to attend summer camp sessions where they will continue to build leadership skills and learn how to work as part of a team.

Support through grants, such as the one presented by the Beazley Foundation, allows Girl Scouts to further their mission of building girls of courage, confidence and character, who make the world a better place.

Legislative Relief for Girl Scouts' Pension Program

Charitable Pension Flexibility Act

Representatives Susan Brooks (R-IN) and Ron Kind (D-WI) introduced a bipartisan bill on May 23 that enables Girl Scouts and similar charities with affiliates, such as universities and non-profit hospitals, to opt-in early starting next year to the pension funding rules that cover corporate plans - the Charitable Pension Flexibility Act (H.R. 2134).

The bill would smooth pension expenses at more consistent levels, so there is not a spike in paying much higher amounts projected for the next three years. Key to this legislation's success is strong, bipartisan support.

Consider taking action and urge your U.S. Representative to support the Charitable Pension Flexibility Act. Take Action!