Girl Scout Council Honors Volunteers From Newtown

At its 2003 annual meeting recently, the Girl Scout Council of Southwestern Connecticut honored outstanding adult volunteers with both Council and national Girl Scouts of the USA awards.

Volunteers are the lifeblood of the Girl Scout Movement. Through their generous commitment of time and talent they help make the Girl Scout Program affordable and accessible at the local level to a wide variety of interested girls who range from 5 to 17 years of age and who come from different backgrounds and experiences. In fact, better than one out of every five girls in that age bracket in this Council’s jurisdiction is a Girl Scout.

Both male and female Girl Scout leaders undergo extensive, targeted training to assure program safety, consistency, and quality. At little or no cost, leaders are schooled in first aid and CPR and innovative crisis, anti-bullying, and communication techniques. So exceptional is the experience that trainees routinely claim the training gave them the confidence, knowledge, and enthusiasm to make them look forward to sharing their skills with the girls they serve.

Girl Scout volunteers serve at many positions and organizational levels to make the comprehensive Girl Scout Program run smoothly. Leaders, trainers, service unit support, outdoor volunteers, board and committee members all adjust their busy lives to help the over 9,000 girls in this council’s jurisdiction.

The following Newtown residents were honored this year:

The GSUSA Outstanding Leader Award, recognizing troop or group leaders for their exceptional ability to work with girls, was given to Cindy Glaberson and Anna Wiggers.

The GSUSA Outstanding Volunteer Award, for service beyond expectations for a particular position, was presented to Karen Meisenheimer and to Kim Pearlman, who have for two years co-managed the Girl Scout Cookie Program for the Service Unit.

The Council’s Keeping the Grass Roots Green Award, for extraordinary support services, was presented to Karen Kaechele and Debra Kaza. A dedicated troop leader and orientation volunteer, Mrs Kaechele is currently working toward becoming a Council trainer. Mrs Kaza, meanwhile, organized last autumn’s rededication ceremony and the end-of-the-year leader recognition celebration.

The Council’s New Horizons Award, which recognizes an adult who opened up new territory for Girl Scout membership, was given to Lisa Chaloux, who ran an after-school program to introduce Girl Scouting to girls and to work on Try-It badges with Brownie Girl Scouts.

The Girl Scout Council of Southwestern Connecticut has more than 3,000 adult volunteers in its 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.