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 The Healthy Media for Youth Act (H.R. 4925)
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Issue Children are consuming more media than ever, but unfortunately, the images they see often reinforce gender stereotypes, emphasize unrealistic body images or show women in passive roles. The need for more positive images of girls in the media is clear. As children’s media use continues to increase, all youth would benefit from seeing healthier and positive messages about girls and women.
Impact The Healthy Media for Youth Act would promote healthy media messages about girls and women for the benefit of all youth. This legislation will help girls and young women see themselves in a new and stronger light and create possible funding opportunities for Girl Scout programming and research.
Background In March 2010, Girl Scouts of the USA worked with Representatives Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) to develop and introduce H.R. 4925. This bill establishes grants for media literacy programs and youth empowerment groups like Girl Scouts, facilitates research on how depictions of women and girls in the media impact youths’ health, and creates a National Task Force on Women and Girls in the Media that will develop voluntary standards for promoting healthier media images of girls and women.
What’s Next We need your help to encourage Members of Congress to cosponsor this legislation. Please join the Girl Scouts Advocacy Network to be a Voice for Girls on Capitol Hill and to send a message asking your U.S. Representative to support H.R. 4925.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Join the Girl Scouts Advocacy Network
www.GirlScouts4girls.org
 Girl Scouts across the state of Missouri celebrated when Missouri Governor Jay Nixon signed Senate Bill No. 649 into law on June 29, 2010, proclaiming March 12 as “Girl Scout Day” in Missouri. The proclamation will be issued annually for that day, recommending Missouri residents to recognize Girl Scouts, the premier leadership development organization for girls.
Girl Scouts was founded by Juliette Gordon Low on March 12, 1912. Low assembled 18 girls from Savannah, Georgia, for a local Girl Scout meeting. She believed that all girls should be given the opportunity to develop physically, mentally, and spiritually. With the goal of bringing girls out of isolated home environments and into community service and the open air, the country’s first Girl Scouts hiked, played basketball, went on camping trips, learned how to tell time by the stars, and studied first aid.
Girl Scouting in the state of Missouri began in 1918, when the St. Louis City and County Council of Girl Scouts (now Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri) was established. In 1923, the Kansas City area council was formed; and in 1954, additional councils formed in the central and southern areas of the state, including those that are now Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland. Today, more than 88,000 girls, supported by 25,500 volunteers in the state of Missouri join a membership of more than 3.4 million Girl Scouts across the United States. On March 12, 2012, Girl Scouts will celebrate its 100th anniversary.
Girl Scouts builds girls of courage, confidence and character, who make the world a better place. Girls in grades K -12 join for fun and friendship, but they also benefit from clear developmental outcomes that will serve them for the rest of their lives. In partnership with committed adult volunteers, girls discover a stronger sense of self, connect through healthy relationships with others in an increasingly diverse world, and take action in their local and global communities – these are just a few of the many ways that Girl Scouts empowers girls to become leaders. All Girl Scout experiences are intentionally designed to tie to one or more of the 15 national leadership outcomes, or benefits.
For more information about Girl Scouts, please visit www.girlscoutsmoheartland.org, or call 877-312-4764.
 It’s nearly time for new phone books to land on front porches and in business lobbies. Local Girl Scouts have a creative way for your old phone books to be re-used! Now through July 31, Girl Scouts will be collecting old phone books for Nestle Purina’s Project PetLitter. “Yesterday’s News” is pet litter made from recycled newspapers, catalogs, magazines, junk mail, and other paper. “This is a great, hands-on way for girls to connect with community members and to practice the ‘use resources wisely’ part of the Girl Scout Law,” says Jennifer M. Orban, CEO of Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland. Girl Scout troops also benefit by receiving proceeds from Nestle Purina PetCare rewards for each book collected. Last year Girl Scouts collected more than 67,000 phonebooks and earned more than $3,000 in proceeds to use toward leadership activities and service projects.
The drop-off locations in Springfield include all Dillon’s grocery stores and the Girl Scout Administrative Service Center at 210 S. Ingram Mill Road. Area businesses may also call Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland toll-free at 1-877-312-4764 x1137 or email smcall@girlscoutsmoheartland.org to have a Girl Scout troop assigned to pick up old phonebooks.
Continue reading Girl Scouts use resources wisely with annual phonebook recycling project
One of the things I love about my job as the E-Media Specialist for the Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland council is I get to help discover different, effective ways for staff, girls, volunteers, and parents to connect with each other and stay up-to-date with important and/or fun information. Facebook has been, and probably will continue for some time, to be an extremely popular and easy way to make and maintain those connections.
Unfortunately, even the good can have an unfortunate side.
If you use Facebook (or if you’re considering doing so), you should take a look at these two articles:
“Facebook’s High Pressure Tactics: Opt-in or Else” : http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebooks_high_pressure_tactics_opt-in_or_else.php
“How to Delete Facebook Applications (and Why You Should)” : http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_to_delete_facebook_applications_and_why_you_should.php
Facebook has slowly been loosening their standards on how user information gets shared. A year ago they made the default new profile info from private to public, they then made it so that not only is your profile information open to any of the Facebook applications (like the quizzes and games) but also the information of your friends, and then recently they turned on by default an “Instant Personalization” feature which shares your profile to external Web sites. (See: “How to Opt Out of Facebook’s Instant Personalization” http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/04/how-opt-out-facebook-s-instant-personalization)
Now, as the first two articles describe, Facebook has made it so that all your profile info is connected to other FB pages and groups or else you can’t have references to those subjects in your profile, and they’ve expanded the amount of information third-party applications can have on you and how long they can have it.
What’s the bottom line in this cautionary tale of creeping personal information leakage? Should we abandon the social media ship? Well, the pros and cons have to be weighed on an individual basis. But what it comes down to, what it always has and always will come down to, is educate yourself on how your personal information is being used and consider carefully what information you put out on the ‘net. As one of the articles states: “In fact, it may be best if you just assume that everything on Facebook will be public from now on and act accordingly.” That’s good advice not just for Facebook, but any and all Internet use.
And we need to be good models for the youth. We need to show them, in practice as much as telling them in cautionary instruction, that personal information is a commodity: there are people who want it; will buy, sell and trade it; and exploit it if it profits them. Personal information is to be given out sparingly, carefully, and in an informed manner.
Unfortunately, our youth are getting very mixed messages about the value of their personal information. On the one hand we tell them (rightfully so) to be careful and miserly about their information, but on the other hand we’re living in an increasingly surveilled culture where we, and our kids, are watched by cameras, monitored online, scanned by detection devices, and asked left-and-right to give over more of our information at retail and even grocery stores.
One component of the solution must be that we model for our kids the proper way to value our personal information online. Be careful and judicious with your own information. Teach through your own online interactions that what you put online is about yourself is valuable enough to be protected, and what you do put online should never be presumed to be private.
I love the Internet, I love social media and all the positive potential it has. As the council’s E-Media Specialist, I love being able to use the skills and knowledge I have and continue to develop helping our girls and adults alike to use social media. Social media is a tool. It can be used for good, as we use it every day to promote and enhance the Girl Scout experience — and it can be used for ill. The proper response isn’t fear and avoidance, in my opinion, any more than one should fear and avoid a hammer, knowing it could build a house or smash a thumb. The proper response should be education and information.
Embracing social media isn’t for everyone, and you may never ever use Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, or any of their cousins or descendants; but online social media is becoming increasingly an integrated part of modern life. It may not directly affect you, but I would bet you directly affect someone who does embrace it! Help pass the proper education along.
Thank you for reading.
Liam Watts
E-Media Specialist
Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland
 Save the Date!
Monday, August 9, 2010
Meadow Lake Acres Country Club
New Bloomfield, MO
1:00 pm Tee-off 4-Person Scramble
Registration coming soon!
Register your team by August 1st by calling 1-877-312-4764 x1418
or emailing rtrout -at- girlscoutsmoheartland dot org.
All proceeds benefit Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland, Inc.
EF Tours Girl Scout Trips: A Girl Scout Journey
Enroll on your Girl Scout Trip to London, Paris, and Lucerne!
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It’s not too late to register for the 2012 Girl Scout Journey to Europe!
This 10 day trip includes three countries – England, France, and Switzerland- and visits to two world centers – Pax Lodge and Our Chalet!
Join your Girl Scout sisters from across the council on this once in a lifetime opportunity. Space is limited and once it’s gone, it’s gone!
For more information contact Leadership Program Specialists Stefanie McCall at 1-877-312-4764 ext 1137 or Karen Lawrence at ext 1329.
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 See EF Tours flyer (1.5MB PDF) , and the Girl Scout Journey flyer for more information and how to enroll
Contact the GSMH Shop for more information regarding National Volunteer Week (April 18-24) and the Leader Appreciation Drawing we’re hosting.
Download the PDF flyer for basic information and daily drawing sign-up slips to be turned in at your local GSMH retail shop. For times and locations, visit the council shop Web page:
http://www.girlscoutsmoheartland.org/shop
 At the first annual meeting for Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland, held on March 27 in Branson, Mo., ten outstanding volunteers were honored for their contributions to the organization. Fellow volunteers nominated Karla Geerlings (Columbia, Mo.), Renee Hobbs (Cassville, Mo.), Christy Lane (West Plains, Mo.), Lori Powderly (Cape Girardeau, Mo.), Nani Wilde (Nevada, Mo.) and Deidre Wipke-Tevis (Columbia, Mo.) to receive the Girl Scout Appreciation Pin.
Geerlings was applauded by her peers for her for her generous spirit, dedicated work ethic and contagious enthusiasm. Hobbs, who currently volunteers as the Girl Scout troop organizer and orientation trainer in Barry County, was recognized for her consistent and enthusiastic efforts to support Girl Scouting. Lane, the volunteer service team manager for Ozark, Howell and Oregon Counties, was nominated for her helpfulness to other volunteers and her commitment to carrying out the principles of the Girl Scout Promise and Law. Powderly was recognized for her positive mentorship of girls and her efforts to increase the visibility of Girl Scouting. Wilde awarded the Girl Scout Appreciation Pin for her efforts coordinating events for Vernon County Girl Scouts, teaching girls about nature, and ensuring that Girl Scouting is accessible to all girls. Wipke-Tevis was recognized for her efforts coordinating special events for girls in the area and the countless hours that she gives to help train other volunteers.
The Girl Scout Honor Pin was awarded to Timpe for her positive attitude and her extensive efforts in coordinating events for Girl Scouts in Cape Girardeau and to Wingert for her efforts in community service, planning Vernon County Girl Scout events and ensuring that girls do their best.
Mason and Rorrer received the Girl Scout Thanks Badge for their contributions to the counties in which they volunteer. Mason has been a Girl Scout volunteer for ten years, and currently serves as the volunteer Girl Scout service team manager for Vernon County. She gives extensive time and support to the Girl Scout cookie program, her fellow volunteers, and girls throughout Vernon County. Rorrer, a long-time Girl Scout volunteer, currently serves as the co-service team manager for southeast Springfield. She was honored for her efforts in the Girl Scout community, which include offering her expertise as a trainer and mentor for new volunteers and helping to plan events for Girl Scouts in Greene County.
“We are very grateful for the continued support and contributions of volunteers like these women,” says Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland CEO Jennifer M. Orban, “Girl Scouts could not exist without the time, energy and heart that they give to the girls.” Awardees who were in attendance at the event were presented with framed certificate and pins. Geerlings, Powderly and Timpe could not attend, but will receive their awards at upcoming volunteer meetings.
Continue reading Girl Scout volunteers honored
 First of all, we wanted to take a moment to tell you how much we appreciate all of your effort and support during the 2010 Cookie Program!
The 2010 cookie season has had many new and exciting opportunities, but with that we have had challenges (or learning experiences).
This year ABC started a new ordering process, so whatever we have in the four warehouses – we own.
Our challenges have become your opportunity to earn additional funds for your troop. We have cleared out the warehouses and have more cookies than we need.
This is why we are able to offer troops a one-time increased proceeds on cookie sales (while supplies last).
You can earn $2 per box on cookies sold AND no additional paperwork! Here’s how:
All troops who come to a service center and purchase cookies between 3/15/2010 and 3/31/2010 will get the following perks:
| Troop Profit: $2.00/ per box |
Can purchase mixed cases |
No Paperwork Due |
Note:
- All purchases will need to be in full cases, these can be mixed cases (total of 12 boxes).
- Must pay at time of purchase ($24.00/ per case) with a troop check only or NO discount will be given.
- In order to streamline this process (no paperwork), additional cookies picked up will not count towards girl recognitions, cookie credit, troop or SU bonuses.
- All direct selling to the public must be completed by April 30, 2010.
- Additional cookies purchased and troop proceeds earned must be documented on your annual Troop Financial Report due on July 1st.
- All sales to the public will continue at $4.00/ per box – no exceptions.
- It is the responsibility of the troop to collect on any insufficient funds checks received for cookies sold during this time period.
This is a great opportunity for those troops who are planning to go on a trip or want to help girls attend resident camp this summer!
Stop by one of the five service centers to pick up your cookies today!
Cookies will only be available in the service center cookie cupboards. You can still call ahead for larger orders.
If you are unable to come to a service center, please contact your community/membership development specialist to make arrangements for a delivery.
Toll Free: 877-312-4764
Cape Girardeau Service Center, 1432 Kurre Lane, Cape Girardeau, MO x1503
Dexter Service Center, 1420 Girl Scout Way, Dexter, MO x1423
Jefferson City Service Center, 230 Metro Drive, Jefferson City, MO x1337
Joplin Service Center, 1029 E 7th Street, Joplin, MO x1215
Springfield Service Center, 210 S. Ingram Mill Road, Springfield, MO x1132 or 1133
All service center cupboard hours are as follows: Monday – Friday 11:00 am – 4:30 pm and Saturday, March 20th from 9:00 am – 1:00 pm.
All service centers will be CLOSED on 3/17/2010 and 3/27/2010 due to a previously scheduled staff meeting and annual meeting.
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