Strong Girl Scouts Can Look To A Strong Future

DANBURY — Almost 250 business and community leaders attending the Girl Scout Council of Southwestern Connecticut’s “Strong Girls-Strong Future” fundraising breakfast on April 1 at the Ethan Allen Hotel learned from two different generations of women why Girl Scouting will always be a part of their lives.

Ridgefield college sophomore Katelyn Witek, a past recipient of the Gold Award, the highest award in Girl Scouting, explained that she first realized Girl Scouts was different from other charitable, community, or school organizations when she was a Cadette in middle school.

“Girl Scouts always managed to link the fun part and the rewarding part together … Responsibility, leadership communication sKills, organizational skills, teamwork, patience, compassion, and creativity were all supported and enhanced by my activities and experiences with Girl Scouts,” Miss Witek told attendees.

For Miss Witek, the Silver and Gold awards distilled those skills through precise projects, but it was after beginning her freshman year at college that she truly understood how Girl Scouting had affected her life.

“At Vassar, I found the importance of these invaluable virtues and skills in everyday life and tasks from managing my time to organizing my assignments, to completing all kinds of paperwork and forms, to communicating with my professors and, just like in Girl Scouts, was able to have a great time in between,” she said. “I remember great times and great memories going hand in hand with the priceless knowledge, skills, and values I gained from it all.”  

Because her experience was so positive, Miss Witek has been working with a local Girl Scout Council in her college town for two years as an intern, mentor, and advisor of girls ages 12-17. She plans Council events, talks to troops about the requirements of the Silver and Gold awards, sits on the Gold Award project approval committee, has organized a pre-requisite workshop for Cadette Girl Scouts working towards their Silver Award, and is working on a prerequisite workshop for the Gold Award.

Judy Frey, President of the Council, then spoke about all the girls who don’t have the family support, self-esteem, or self-confidence that helps them create a firm foundation. Those girls need the empowering Girl Scout Program badly to help them realize they have the power to change their lives and bring out their potential.  

 Ms Frey summed up the benefits of Girl Scouting and hinted to its crisis-prevention applications.

“Girl Scouts is about trips to camp, with enough financial aid available so that everyone can go,” she said. “Girl Scouts is learning about yourself and how valuable you are as a person. If you value yourself, you are much less likely to take part in risky behavior.

“Girl Scouts is an anti-bullying program for middle school age girls, a program that teaches respect, understanding, leadership, and empowerment,” she continued. “It is a financial literacy program for older girls that gives girls the basic money management knowledge and skills that will put them on the road to becoming confident, financially savvy adults.

“It is very important that we provide Girl Scouting to all girls in our jurisdiction, no matter where they live, no matter what their circumstances,” she finished.

The fundraising event was an opportunity for attendees to become informed about today’s Girl Scouts and to support the empowering organization whose mission is to bring out the potential in all girls ages 5 through 17 in the 15 Fairfield County towns and cities of Bethel, Brookfield, Danbury, Darien, Greenwich, New Canaan, New Fairfield, Newtown, Norwalk, Redding, Ridgefield, Stamford, Weston, Westport and Wilton.

The event was organized by co-chairs Joyce Ligi of Ridgefield Bank and Jeff Ryer of Ryer Associates in Danbury, along with committee members Christina Davis of Newtown, Judy Frey of Westport, and Christine Lodewick, Debbie Roche, and Suzie Scanlon of Ridgefield. Event sponsors included Newtown Savings Bank, Ridgefield Bank, Union Savings Bank, Wilton Bank, and the Philip H. & Christine Lodewick Foundation.