Newtown Girl Scouts Help Improve Their World

For Girl Scouts, community service is a way of life.  Since better than one out of every four girls ages 5 to 17 in Newtown is a Girl Scout, the community definitely benefits from the positive influence these girls and their trained leaders have on their town.

 The Girl Scout Mission aims to inspire girls to “service.”  In the Girl Scout Promise each girl vows to “help people at all times.”  In the Girl Scout Law, each girl states that she will do her best to be “friendly and helpful, considerate and caring … and … make the world a better place….”

The Girl Scout emphasis on inclusiveness and respect for self and others is a daily part of their lives and is promoted in many different arenas – school, clubs, sports, religious institutions, and community life – thereby extending those constructive attitudes and helping to make every experience more positive because of the girls’ influence and participation.

Every year the Service Unit – the local organization of trained volunteers who bring the empowering Girl Scout Program to the girls – has to report on its regular collaborations and notable service projects.  Collaborating organizations that benefited from community service by Newtown Girl Scouts over the past months included the American Red Cross, Newtown Historical Society, Lion’s Club, Meals on Wheels, Newtown Fire and Police Departments, and Women in Newtown (WIN).

 Notable service projects ranged from donating two trees to Festival of Trees during the 2004 Holiday Festival, serving free coffee and donated donuts to travelers on Labor Day weekend (with 35 troops participating), singing songs to residents at local nursing homes, preparing and serving food at local shelters, donating and purchasing books for C.H. Booth Library, collecting animal food for animal shelters, collecting backpacks full of gifts for shelters, serving refreshments and snacks at Red Cross Blood Drives, creating cards for local veterans, and planning, preparing, and presenting a puppet show and crafts at the library.

In addition, all leaders were trained to teach girls the Girlz RULE (Respect, Understanding, Leadership, Empowerment) program.  The Service Unit purchased its own equipment so program components could be taught easily and used for various events, and trained volunteers also taught a Girlz RULE session for Newtown Youth Services.

Girlz RULE, developed by the Girl Scout Council of Southwestern Connecticut, teaches girls to identify and combat various kinds of aggression – such as putdowns, rumors, and ostracism – and builds respect, self-esteem and communication skills among participating girls and their fellow students.

Programs such as Girlz R.U.L.E. exemplify why Girl Scouts is considered a crisis-prevention organization – helping girls develop the character, confidence and skills to make healthy choices and avoid risky behaviors.

Girl Scouts is proactive – meeting the needs of today’s girls now and tomorrow through extensive research and relevant programs.  Since 1912, the Girl Scout Program has helped develop strong young women and leaders who bring out the best in themselves and their communities.

The Girl Scout Council of Southwestern Connecticut serves nearly 9,300 young women in grades K through 12 and over 5,400 adult members and volunteers 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.

For more information on joining or volunteering, individuals are encouraged to contact the council at 203-762-5557.