Our speaker this week was Cindy Serattore presenting information about the Girl Scouts of America in the Norristown Area.
Recall Cindy helped our club this past Spring on Earth Day along with multi troop representation from the Norristown Area.
Cindy gave us a brief history of the Girl Scouts starting in 1812 in Savannah Georgia now represented in over 152 countries.
Some former girl scouts are – Jill Biden, Laura Bush, Hilary Clinton, Nikki Haley, Condalezza Rice, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Michelle Obama, Carrie Fisher, Grace Kelly, Lucille Ball to name a few.
The Norristown Area has 18 troops serving 120-150 girls. The activities range from camping to fund raising and helping others projects. Troop camp is an opportunity for many girls to get outside and experience some activities they might not normally get to experience. The organization is governed by a volunteer board. Their most famous fund raiser is selling Girl Scout cookies since the beginning. All cookies are made by only two bakers and who in some cases they can't agree on what to call a particular cookie although it is the same cookie. Each make 8 cookies. The cookie sales started with a troop in Oklahoma. This year Norristown raised $30,000 through the sale. Money is spent on badges, programs, adventures, camping, skill building, donating to causes and parties.
The girls learn many useful skills like knot tying and making s'mores. they experience many educational sessions in science and many other topics through volunteer instructors from the community. The participate in many local events like the East Norriton Christmas Parade, work with the Norristown Garden Club..
In fact Saturday, September 23rd is their own meet and greet day at Rita's Water Ice. If you know a girl who is interested come out that day and meet the troops.
