Why Kids Should Go To Summer Camp

Did you know that over TEN MILLION American kids go to camp every summer? Whoa!

Summer camp has been a U.S. tradition for over 150 years. Back then, before air conditioning was invented, hot city summers were miserable and even unhealthy for children, so escaping to the country for a few weeks became a popular trend. Today, kids have different reasons for making camp a part of their lives, such as:

To Meet New People
Camp gives kids a change to other kids diverse backgrounds. It’s a great way to make cool new friends and learn about new and different activities.

To Try New Things
Camps offer games, sports, and activities that you probably can’t do in your backyard or even your neighborhood. You might try archery, sailing, pottery, dance, challenge courses, and a hundred other cool things! Staying home and doing “the same-old same-old” can be boring, and camp can let you mix things up.

To Challenge Yourself
Not all the things that kids do at camp are easy – they’re not supposed to be! Fresh challenges — like trying new sports, learning new crafts and games, or pushing yourself to achieve something — can be very rewarding. Take it from Bella, 11, who told us:

“I went to summer camp and I passed my swimming test! I can barely swim, so it was a big accomplishment. I felt great afterwards. Since I passed my swimming test I got to canoe!”

To Appreciate Nature
There’s a great big natural world out there, and going to camp helps you learn how beautiful and important it really is. Without trees, soil, water, and wildlife, the Earth (and all the people on it) couldn’t survive, and getting out into the woods and in nature can give you a better understanding of how the web of life works.

To Get a Change of Scenery
Sometimes it’s important to get away from familiar territory and find a “new place” for yourself. Camp offers the perfect opportunity to make a fresh start, see and experience a variety of things, and find out how you think, feel, and act outside of your normal surroundings. It can even be great to get away from you and friends for a while and just be you.

To Learn New Skills
All the activities and instruction at camp are great opportunities to learn something new — such as sailing, archery, challenge course, horseback riding — that could end up being your favorite hobby. Camp can also help you develop important life skills like independence, self-reliance, and confidence. Since you’ll be living with a whole group of people, it’s also a great way to learn about cooperation, compromise, and tolerance.

To Get Healthy
With all the fun, games, and physical activity, going to camp can be a great way to get exercise and fresh air. Swimming, hiking, and playing sports are a much healthier alternative to hanging around at home all summer.

To Have FUN!
When you get right down to it, going to camp is all about having a good time.

We offer resident camp, mini-resident camp, horse camps, travel camps, day camps and community day camp. Summer camp can be a great activity for all kids.

Robin Howard
Senior Program Specialist

Out of the Box

Eco-friendly packages preserve great taste!

Wondering why our Lemonades™ and Thanks-A-Lot® packages look a bit different?  They’re part of our eco-friendly packaging initiative!

In 2010, ABC Cookies took the Thanks-A-Lot Girl Scout cookie “out of the box.” This single change allowed us to save 150 tons of paperboard from going into America’s waste stream. And we were able to ship more cookies per truck, saving an estimated 2,600 gallons of diesel fuel a year.

The move showed girls the impact one single action could have on the environment and helped position Girl Scouts as an innovative, earth-friendly enterprise. And the public relations mentions about this change contributed to a 5 percent average increase in overall sales per council.

Due to the positive volunteer and consumer response, ABC Cookies has expanded their repackaging of Lemonades in recyclable film for this cookie season! This will result in a combined reduction of 300 tons of paperboard into the waste stream.

Building a Lifetime of Skills and Confidence

Did you know the Girl Scout Cookie Program is the largest girl-run business in the world? The Girl Scout Cookie Program produces $790 million dollars in annual sales with 200 million cookie packages a year to more than 50 million customers. For three months of each year, Girl Scouts around the country venture into the entrepreneurial world to learn business and financial skills and earn money to fund their Girl Scouting goals. Through “learning by earning,” Girl Scouting aims to empower girls through the development of five essential skills: goal setting, money management, people skills, decision making, and business ethics.

In the spring of 2012, the Girl Scout Research Institute set out to understand the extent to which Girl Scouts actually develop these five essential skills, as well as to examine the specific ways girls benefit from their participation in the Cookie Program. Survey responses from more than 1,400 Girl Scout Brownies and Juniors representing various regions of the country provided compelling evidence that girls do benefit from the Girl Scout Cookie Program through development of these essential skills.

A Positive Impact on Girls’ Lives

Girls who developed the five skills were more likely to report that they learned new things while selling cookies that will help them in school and other areas of their life than girls who did not (93% vs. 63% respectively).

Overall, 96% of girls reported that selling cookies was fun. Learning by earning made it even more fun. Girls were more likely to report cookie selling as fun when they developed the five skills than when they did not (98% vs. 90%, respectively).

Even though the vast majority of Girl Scouts were eager to sell cookies next year (95%), those who had achieved the five skills were even more eager than those who did not (95% vs. 90%, respectively).

New Girl Scout Cookie Boxes

You may notice something a little different about your favorite Girl Scout cookies this year. For the first time in thirteen years, Girl Scouts of the USA has changed its iconic cookie boxes! To help celebrate Girl Scouting’s 100th birthday, this cookie season will mark the first redesign of Girl Scout cookie boxes since 1999. Not only do the boxes sport a new look, but they serve a new purpose as well: to showcase the five lifelong financial literacy and entrepreneurial skills the Girl Scout Cookie Program teaches.  These include goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics. The new designs feature girls kayaking, working in a park, and speaking at Girl Scout events, among other activities. The final package design captures moments that show the power of girls working together as they engage in activities like greening a park, volunteering at a soup kitchen, and traveling to Paris.

To celebrate the launch of the new cookie packaging, Girl Scouts of the USA teamed up with Advertising Week to host “Thinking Outside the Cookie Box: Keeping Youthful Innovation Throughout Your Career,” a panel hosted by financial journalist Jean Chatzky. Panelists included: Kate Zillio, Director of Client Sales at Anthem; Stefanie Manning, Associate Publisher at Hearst Magazines; Tessa Tinney, Partner/Creative Director at Monaco Lange; Lisa Belkin, Senior Columnist at Huffington Post and Amy Wilkins, Senior Vice President of Publishing at Martha Stewart Weddings.

The panel spent forty minutes musing on their time in Girl Scouting and its impact on their adult lives. Writer Lisa Belkin recalled that during her time as a Girl Scout “there were writing badges and I distinctly remember getting them” but felt she got more out of her time than badges for things she was already good at. She followed up with a story of joining a Girl Scouts bake-off…despite not knowing how to bake. With a laugh, she explained that the experience taught her that “ there are things that I haven’t seen yet. There are paths that I never knew I could do! The idea that there are so many directions to go in. I do believe it started with that first Girl Scout cheesecake.”

Similarly, Jean Chatzky chatted about her mother’s insistence that she join Girl Scouts, since she believed that it taught girls “how to get where they want to go.” Since goal setting is one of the five key skills girls learn from the Girl Scout Cookie Program, it’s safe to say that mom was right on that one!

“We have more than 50 million cookie customers across the country, and the cookie box is the most tangible and powerful way for us to communicate directly with consumers,” said Anna Maria Chávez, CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA.

If you have trouble tracking down a Girl Scout this cookie season, you can always use the free Cookie Finder app for your iPhone or Android to see the newly-redesigned boxes in person.

How to Buy Girl Scout Cookies

You know just how great Girl Scout cookies are! However you may not know how important the experience of selling them is for girls. Selling Girl Scout cookies allows girls to gain 5 learning skills: goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics – skills that are needed in everyday life. But the experience won’t happen without YOU!

Here is a quick guide, from Girl Scouts themselves, on  the best way to buy cookies. It’s more than just handing over money for your cookies. It’s about helping girls learn how to reach their full potential.

Say hi!
“Hello” and a smile gets everything off on the right foot! It builds our confidence and is basically the greatest conversation starter ever.

Look me in the eye.
Some of us may seem a little shy, but that’s just because we don’t know you yet. It’s not easy talking to people you don’t know or asking people to trust you – but that’s what we’re learning to do. Making eye contact says, “Hey, we see each other, we respect each other, and we’re ready to do business.”

Let me know if you’re a Girl Scout.
There are a lot of Girl Scouts out there, everywhere. Over 21,000 in our council alone – 2 million nationwide. So definitely tell us if you’re a Girl Scout, and tell us how being a Girl Scout has helped you become who you are. It means a lot to us, seeing what we can become.

Please don’t call us cute.
We know we’re cute, but selling cookies is real. We’re learning how to run a business. We want you to buy cookies because you want them and respect what we’re learning, not because of our nice haircut or uniform. We’re running the largest girl-led business in the world. That’s not cute. That’s incredible.

Ask about our inventory.
You probably have a favorite (everyone does), but we have a lot of cookies to tell you about. It’s part of my responsibility to explain what we have and then make sure you get exactly what you ordered.

Ask where the money goes.
Our troop decides where our money goes. It’s amazing to see all the great things we can do with what we earn. Some groups use the proceeds to go on new adventures, to visit new places, or to support causes they care about. So definitely ask us.

Let’s talk money.
When you hand us the money, it’s about more than making change. We learn how to set up a budget and track money, and how money can do a lot of good in the world.

Ask us why we’re Girl Scouts.
Everyone joins for a different reason, but we all make great friends and accomplish things we wouldn’t otherwise. Our leadership awards and skill-building badges prove it. We learn that we can do anything. We can be anything.

Notice our new package design.
We redesigned all the boxes to share the real story of what Girl Scouts do today – and the fun we have while doing it. Tell us what you think.

Let us know how we did.
Selling cookies is hard work, and it’s a new thing for a lot of us. Feedback helps us get better and grow into leaders.

Operation Cookie Share

Girl Scouts of Central Illinois kicked off Operation Cookie Share in 2010. Since that time, over 190,000 boxes of delectable Girl Scout cookies have been shipped to our service men and women at home and abroad. In fact, our Girl Scouts were so successful that this achievement was entered in the Illinois Congressional Records. This year, GSCI hopes to beat its own record. You can pledge your support for this endeavor by visiting OperationCookieShare.org.

Operation Cookie Share is a cookie “give-back” program that allows customers to purchase boxes of Girl Scout cookies to send to military troops, letting them know that we appreciate their service. It’s a simple and fun way for communities to show support for military troops and Girl Scouts alike.

How Operation Cookie Share Works

Even though we are using a direct sale format this year, girls should still take along their order cards when selling. On each girl’s order card, there is a column labeled “Cookie Share.” When the girls go out with cookies in hand (and when they staff cookie booths!), please encourage them to not only ask the customer to purchase Girl Scout cookies for themselves, but to also purchase cookies for our military troops. Girls will enter the number of boxes each customer donates in the Cookie Share column. Customers do not have a choice of the variety of cookies to be sent to troops.

If you have trouble tracking down a Girl Scout this cookie season, you can always use the free Girl Scout Cookie Finder app for your iPhone or Android to see the newly-redesigned boxes in person.

National Girl Scout Cookie Day – February 8, 2013

This year Girl Scouts has named February 8 National Girl Scout Cookie Day. Girls will be asking 50 million cookie fans across the nation to buy or order more boxes in honor of their success in running the largest girl-led business enterprise in the world.

On Feb. 8, our council will be joining voices nationwide to raise awareness for the Girl Scout Cookie Program. Girl Scout cookies are an American icon, but cookie season is more than just a sale – it’s a program that teaches girls essential skills that they carry with them throughout their lives.

There are many women, including several local business women, who got their start in business by participating in the Girl Scout Cookie Program.

When it comes to skill building, statistics show the Girl Scout Cookie Program works. According to a survey from the Girl Scout Research Institute, 85 percent of Girl Scout “cookie entrepreneurs” learn money management by developing budgets, taking cookie orders, and handling customers’ money. Eighty-three percent build business ethics; 80 percent learn goal setting; 77 percent improve decision making; and 75 percent develop people skills.

If you have trouble tracking down a Girl Scout this cookie season, you can always use the free Girl Scout Cookie Finder app for your iPhone or Android.

The Importance of the Girl Scout Cookie Program

By selling cookies, girls learn important skills they need to become successful leaders—skills they will apply to everyday life. Here are some of the ways girls have benefited from the program:

• 85% have built money management skills as they developed budgets, took cookie orders, and handled customers’ money.
• 83% have developed business ethics, learning to fulfill promises to customers and considering how best to contribute to their communities with their earnings.
• 80% have honed the goal setting skill, learning to set sales goals and creating a set of objectives to reach them.
• 77% have developed the decision making skill, learning to work as a team to develop a business plan, deciding when and where to sell cookies, and determining what to do with the money they earn.
• 75% have developed people skills, learning to talk to, listen to, and work with different kinds of people while selling cookies.

Support girls in your community today. With your help, they can build a lifetime of skills and confidence.

If you have trouble tracking down a Girl Scout this cookie season, you can always use the free Girl Scout Cookie Finder app for your iPhone or Android to see the newly-redesigned boxes in person. You may also use our cookie locator to find cookies in your area.

It’s Girl Scout Cookie Time!

Buying Girl Scout cookies is more than just handing over money for a box. It’s about the skills and learning a girl gains from interacting directly with you. It’s about the experience of running her own cookie business and working with others. It’s the reason we don’t sell cookies online. And it’s why we encourage you to buy your cookies from a Girl Scout – the cookie professional! – and not her parents.

Your purchase means you get tasty cookies and a girl learns a lifetime of skills. The skills a girl develops in the Girl Scout cookie program empower her to do amazing things. She learns that by putting her mind and energies into something, she can overcome any challenge.

There are no limits to what a girl can do. Girl Scouts across our council are achieving important skills and having a great time participating in the cookie experience.

There’s more to Girl Scout cookies than what’s in the box. Selling cookies teaches goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics – aspects essential to leadership, to success, and to life.

GSCI will be using a direct sale format to sell cookies in 2013. Girls will have packages of cookies IN HAND to sell door-to-door to family, friends, and neighbors. Girl Scouts exchange cookies and payment in one easy step! No more taking orders, waiting weeks, and then returning for the delivery and money collection. A direct sale program condenses all that work into one simple step.

Volunteers, parents, and customers have asked us to simplify the cookie program for years. The direct sale will:

• Be less time-consuming for customers, girls, parents, and volunteers
• Reduce order and delivery to one easy step
• Give girls opportunities to sell more cookies and earn more money for troop activities
• Give girls cookies in hand for customers’ immediate gratification and more sales

Meet the Cookies

Thin Mints
Purchasing a box of Thin Mints, our round, mint-flavored cookies covered in delicious        dark chocolate, helps a girl learn money management. She handles money, keeps records, and even tracks orders – activities that are essential to running a successful business.

Carmel deLites
A tasty treat isn’t all that’s involved with a box of our caramel and toasted coconut-covered cookies. Through interaction with each customer and other Girl Scouts, a girl learns the importance of keeping her word, doing the right thing, and being fair. A girl learns the business ethics that will serve her throughout life.

Peanut Butter Patties
A layer of peanut butter covered in rich chocolate? Mouth-watering treats. But did you know that every box a girl sells helps her learn decision making? She makes a plan, solves problems on her own, and thinks creatively – skills she needs to be successful, now and in the future.

Shortbread
When a girl hands you a box of these cookies – each one in the shape of our iconic trefoil – she’s building important people skills. She’s meeting new customers, making eye contact, talking about the cookies, and saying thanks. And that builds her confidence for now and for the future.

Lemonades
With each box of tangy lemon-icing-topped shortbread cookies you buy, you’re helping a girl learn about goal setting. She learns how to organize her cookie sale, build a goal, and work hard—skills that help her accomplish all she’ll set out to do in life.

Thanks-A-Lot
Whether the embossed “Thank You” is in English, French, Chinese, Swahili or Spanish, these tasty shortbread cookie with fudge on the bottom are a hit in any language. And they’re also how girls learn business ethics. Through interaction with each customer and other Girl Scouts, a girl learns the importance of keeping her word, doing the right thing, and being fair. She learns the importance of doing business right.

Mango Crèmes
Each box of crunchy vanilla and coconut cookies – with a mango-flavored crème filling – contain a lesson in people skills for the girl who sells them. She’ll meet new customers, make eye contact, talk about the cookies, and say thanks. And that builds her confidence.

If you have trouble tracking down a Girl Scout this cookie season, you can always use the free Cookie Finder app for your iPhone or Android.

Being Thankful

Thanksgiving Day in America is a time to offer thanks, a time for family gatherings and holiday meals.  A time of turkeys, stuffing, and pumpkin pie.  A time for us to give back to our fellow man, as well as your community.

At Girl Scouts of Central Illinois we are so fortunate to have awesome volunteers that help us move our mission in Girl Scouting forward. We could not do what we do with girls without our volunteers.  Being a volunteer adds a tremendous amount of value to what we are accomplishing with our girls and program.

There are as many reasons to serve as there are people who serve. Volunteering is not just an altruistic act. It’s an opportunity to advance in all areas of your life.  Here are a few of the things you can gain when you give your time and yourself:

• Connect with your community.
• Share your skills and gain new ones.
• Develop self-esteem and self-confidence.
• Meet new people from all walks of life.
• Promote a worthwhile organization or cause that is important to you.
• Feel needed and valued.
• Experience something new that you may not otherwise be able to do.

We give thanks for all our volunteers, past, present and future. We appreciate you opening your heart and sharing your time and talent with our organization. Our volunteers are our shining stars! You truly do make a difference in the lives of girls.

Volunteering for the Girl Scouts of Central Illinois can be so rewarding and at the same time giving a girl the gift of your talents to help her become the leader she will be now and in the future.