How to Run a Successful Fall Products Business

When it comes to the Girl Scout Fall Product Program, Girl Scout Ambassador Isabella from Virginia Beach knows how to be successful. While the Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast Fall Product Program began just a few weekends ago, Isabella has already earned over $80 for her troop. One of the secrets to her success? She encourages her customers to think ahead about what treats and gifts they may need for the upcoming holiday season and helps them find just what they need through GSCCC’s fall products offering.

Isabella with Board Chair
Melissa Burroughs at 2014
Annual Council Meeting.

Another reason that she’s so successful is because of her multi-faceted business plan. She sells nuts, candies and magazines by going door-to-door to friends in her neighborhood and also uses the online portal for fall products to send emails to friends and family. She sees the benefits to both of these sales tactics.

“Going door-to-door is great because I can talk to customers and help them figure out what they will like best, while online sales makes it really easy to show everyone what’s available this year,” Isabella said.

For Isabella and the rest of the members of Troop 509, the Girl Scout Fall Product Program is important because it helps them fund community service projects that they participate in before their proceeds from the cookie program are available. In fact, a majority of their proceeds from fall products goes directly to community service projects, and they reserve just a small portion for other activities.

From a young age, Isabella
has been involved in community
service through Girl Scouts.

“My troop helps at a winter homeless shelter run through my church,” Isabella said. “It’s a weekly event, and we make dinner, as well as a lunch for people to take with them for the next day.”

Girl Scout Troop 509 also helps prepare and serve food at the Union Mission and making stockings for a Salvation Army holiday project.

At Girl Scouts, we know that when given the opportunity, girls change the world. Through the Girl Scout Fall Product Program, Girl Scout Troop 509 is just one group of girls who are making the world a better place. To learn more about the fall product program and how to get involved here.

Meet Gretchen, Girl Scout Leadership Institute Delegate

Later this month, Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast will be sending a group of 10 local Girl Scouts to attend the Girl Scout Leadership Institute during Girl Scout Convention in Salt Lake City. The Girl Scout Leadership Institute is a triennial conference that provides girls ages 14 and up with three days of leadership skill-building activities that are tied to the Girl Scout Leadership Experience. This year, the Girl Scout Leadership Institute will focus on big issues that girls across the country and around the world are passionate about.

The theme this year is Discover, Connect, Take Action: Girls Change the World. While participating in the Girl Scout Leadership Institute, girls will choose an issue and design a project to enable them to go out and make a difference in the community. Girls will focus on the issues of teen violence, healthy relationships, basic needs (such as hunger, poverty, homelessness and natural disaster relief), inclusion and diversity, self-image, education and the status of women. After attending the Girl Scout Leadership Institute, each girl will create an action plan to return to her community and make a difference.

One of the 10 girls who will be representing GSCCC in Salt Lake City is Gretchen, a Girl Scout Senior from Chesapeake. Gretchen is a member of Girl Scout Troop 976 and has been a Girl Scout for 10 years. She has earned both the Girl Scout Bronze and Silver Awards, and is looking ahead to earning the Gold Award as well. Gretchen, who is in a Navy family, moved five times before the age of nine and has always appreciated having Girl Scouts as a constant in her life.

Stayed tuned to the GSCCC blog and social media to meet other delegates and read updates from Girl Scout Convention, starting October 16.

Gold Award Spotlight: PROJECT anti-Bully

Chesapeake Girl Scout Donna-Lee has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement in Girl Scouting. For her project, Donna-Lee focused on raising awareness about the issue of bullying in her community. She started by surveying her peers and adults in the community to find out what they know about bullying and if they have experienced bullying. She then researched anti-bullying strategies and behaviors of bullies, victims and bystanders. With this information, Donna-Lee organized an anti-bullying workshop at Church of St. Therese, where she worked with 45 students and adults to teach them how to stand up to bullies, to speak out about incidents of bullying and to make a difference in the lives of others.

During the workshop, students created comic strips portraying bullying incidents, talked about friendships, contributed to a video journal about the effects of bullying and more. Donna-Lee also shared with the students a list of resources where they could find more information about the topic.

“Each day, 160,000 students across the country stay home from school because of bullying,” Donna-Lee said. “I wanted to do this project in order to encourage my peers to be a part of changing the world and creating a safer world for everyone.”

Donna-Lee also created a website, where she placed her workshop presentation for others to use, and distributed CDs with her project to local churches and schools.

The Gold Award requires girls to identify an issue in their community and carry out a Take Action project to address the matter through leadership work. Nationwide, less than 6 percent of eligible Girl Scouts earn the Gold Award, which adds Donna-Lee to an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor.

Chesapeake Girl Scouts Learn Emergency Preparedness

A group of Girl Scout Brownies are now some of Chesapeake’s youngest residents prepared to deal with natural disasters and emergencies. In September, Girl Scout Troop 37 welcomed a representative from the American Red Cross for the Pillowcase Project, a preparedness education program funded by the Walt Disney Company. The girls learned about creating a fire escape plan for their home, how to prepare for a hurricane, what they can do to cope during emergency situations and more. The girls also received booklets with information, as well as fillable emergency contact cards to have as a resource.

Girl Scout Troop 37

Through the Pillowcase Project, each girl was given a pillowcase that lists all of the important things girls could fill it with, including a flashlight, water and batteries, in the event of an evacuation due to a natural disaster. As the girls learned about important things to take along during an evacuation, they also had the chance to decorate and personalize their pillowcases.

Girl Scout Troop 37 is also in the process of earning the First Aid badge. During their meeting on September 30, the girls learned about what constitutes an emergency, when to call 911 and what to do if they are in an emergency situation through a variety of games and activities. The girls also each put together a first aid kit and learned about the function of each item in the first aid kit.

The Pillowcase Project was an opportunity for Troop 37 to live the Girl Scout motto, “Be prepared.” For over 100 years, Girl Scouts have been learning how to help out wherever they are needed, even during an emergency.

Read more about the American Red Cross Pillowcase Project here.

Meet Famous Former Honoree Dr. Wanda Barnard-Bailey

On Thursday, October 30, Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast will be honoring local Girl Scout alumna Dr. Wanda Barnard-Bailey, deputy city manager for City of Chesapeake, at the Girl Scout Famous Formers Luncheon. This event is held annually to honor local women who continue to exemplify the values of Girl Scouting through their leadership roles in the community.

Dr. Wanda Barnard-Bailey

Dr. Bailey, who began her career as a social worker, is now responsible for Chesapeake’s, human services department, parks and recreation department, public library services and customer contact center. In this role, she oversees approximately 25 percent of the budget and employees in the City. Her leadership abilities have allowed her to make great changes in Chesapeake to ensure effective community outreach, enhance the quality of life for citizens and connect the City to local organizations in order to better serve members of the community. Looking back, Dr. Bailey links her experiences in Girl Scouts with the ambitions that she has today to make the world a better place.

As a Girl Scout while growing up in Moyock, Dr. Bailey had her first experiences serving the community. She remembers visiting elderly members of her church to help them with yard work or cleaning around the house. Dr. Bailey also fondly recalls outdoor adventures with her Girl Scout troop, including a hiking trip that ended at a pond where the she got to go fishing.

For Dr. Bailey, the biggest impact that Girl Scouts had on her life was the influence of the volunteer who led her troop, Ms. Lucy Walston. Dr. Bailey recalls that her leader was a vibrant and energetic woman who cared for each Girl Scout in her troop. Looking back, she sees how Ms. Walston, who did not even have a daughter, selflessly gave her time to make a difference in the lives of girls and helped give girls the skills and confidence they needed to become leaders.

“She emulated every line of the Girl Scout Law and taught us to be good citizens by setting a good example for us,” Dr. Bailey said.

Since her time as a member of Girl Scouts, Dr. Bailey has continued to be involved in the organization by supporting her niece’s Girl Scout troop with special projects and supporting them each year during the Girl Scout Cookie Program. Dr. Bailey also helped Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast through their strategic planning process.

In addition to Dr. Bailey, five other local Girl Scout alumnae will be honored as Girl Scout Famous Formers this year: Dr. Lucy Gibney, founder and chairman of Lucy’s, an allergy-friendly food manufacturing company; Susan Mayo, president of Susan T. Mayo Consulting; Regina Mobley, news anchor for WVEC-TV 13; Janis King Robinson, vice president of operations for Sentara Albemarle Medical Center; and Jeanne Zeidler, president and chief executive officer of the Williamsburg Community Health Foundation.

This year’s Girl Scout Famous Formers Luncheon will be held on Thursday, October 30 at 11:30 a.m. at the Norfolk Yacht Club. Tickets for the luncheon are $40 each and can be purchased online or by calling 757-548-9438.

Gold Award Spotlight: Improving the Environment One Tree at a Time

Girl Scout Savannah from Virginia Beach recently earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement in Girl Scouting. For her project, Savannah worked to replace trees that had been lost during storms and due to disease over the years at Pipsico Scout Reservation in Spring Grove, Va. Savannah’s brother attends the camp, and when she visited, she noticed that the loss of trees was causing erosion and that campers had less shade. With the help of a team of volunteers that she organized, Savannah planted 300 trees, including redbuds, northern red oaks and Virginia pines, throughout the camp.

Savannah and Jenny Sommerfeld, camp ranger
at Pipsico Scout Reservation

Savannah purchased the trees from the Virginia Department of Forestry with money she raised from holding yard sales and from other donations. She worked closely with the camp ranger, Jenny Sommerfeld, and the camp director, Evan Sommerfeld, to select the types of trees she would plant, choose the best time to plant the trees and develop a plan for choosing placement, planting and fertilizing each tree. After all of the trees were planted, she marked each one with a ribbon for visibility.

“I chose this project because I love being outdoors,” Savannah said. “Planting trees was a fun experience and as they trees grow they will provide habitats for animals and shade for campers.”

Since planting the trees, both Savannah and Jenny check on them on a regular basis to make sure they are thriving. Savannah also created a book about the Hornaday Awards, which are recognitions that Boy Scouts can earn for significant contributions to conservation.

The Gold Award requires girls to identify an issue in their community and carry out a Take Action project to address the matter through leadership work. Nationwide, less than 6 percent of eligible Girl Scouts earn the Gold Award, which adds Savannah to an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor.

Let's Read, Let's Move!

Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast welcomed new Girl Scouts to the organization during Let’s Read, Let’s Move, a family fun event held on September 28 at the Meyera E. Oberndorf Central Library in Virginia Beach. Girls and their families were invited to learn more about Girl Scouts, as well as participate in activities to teach girls about healthy living and the fun of reading.

Newly-registered Girl Scout Daisy Mia
with WAVY-TV Anchor Lex Gray

During the afternoon, girls had the opportunity to meet WAVY-TV Anchor Lex Gray, who read The Adventures of Rowena and Carrot Jam The Rabbit to girls and gave them copies of the book. They also made crafts, including friendship bracelets and bookmarks, and made their own spinner wheels with activities for staying active. The Virginia Beach Reading Council attended and allowed children to choose a book to take with them to help build their home library.

Studies show that addressing both the needs of mind and body are part of the healthy development of children. Academic success is more likely to happen when a child maintains good health through exercise and diet, along with adding reading as a routine activity. Girl Scouts is committed to providing fun, dynamic and interactive experience for girls to attain practical life skills related to healthy living, reading, writing and communicating through national proficiency badges and resources.

View more photos from the day here.