The annual Cookie Sale begins on October 1st and we can’t wait to see how you’ll Be Amazing this year! Will you make or exceed your goals? Will your troop make a big donation to some of our local frontline workers through your Cookies from the Heart donations? Will your cookie sales make you a member of the 500+ or 1,000+ club—or, will you be one of the regional top sellers? You’ll get the tools and training you need so that you can be amazing during the Cookie Kick-Off taking place September 27th-October 3rd. We can’t wait to see how successful you will be! Click here to learn more about the 2020-2021 Cookie Kickoff.
Congratulations to our 2019-2020 Regional Top Cookie Sellers! Feeling inspired? Great because this could be you this upcoming season. Check out GSUSA’s Digital Marketing Tips for Cookie Entrepreneurs to help make this year’s season a success!
Jenna Diehl – Entrepreneur of the Year, Anne Arundel County, 5367 boxes of cookies sold.
Rylin Bloom – Howard County Top Seller, 3046 boxes of cookies sold.
Gwendolyn Maxson – Harford County Top Seller, 2599 boxes of cookies sold.
Trista Christiansen – Carroll County Top Seller 1332 boxes of cookies sold.
Mihy’a Alves – Baltimore City Top Seller, 825 boxes of cookies sold.
(Not pictured) McKayla Butt – Baltimore County Top Seller, 2357 boxes of cookies sold.
Membership and Recruitment Updates
Exciting Opportunities for Troops Registered for the New Membership Year
October 1, 2020 begins another exciting year of Girl Scouting! Is your troop renewed and ready for the fantastic experiences and programs that are right around the corner?
We are so excited about the new year ahead that we are offering several additional renewal incentives for troops who renew at least 60% of their current girl membership by September 30, 2020. All troops who have renewed during the time period of May 1 through September 30, 2020 will automatically be entered into each of the following drawings. Drawings will take place on Friday, October 9, 2020 at 1:00 PM via Facebook Live
- One-year paid Zoom account for the troop (a $36 value): One troop from each Girl Scouts of Central Maryland County and Baltimore City will be drawn for this incentive.
- Troop Badge-in-a-Box Kit (a $250 value): One of our Girl Scouts of Central Maryland troops will receive a certificate that will permit the troop to receive up to ten (10) of any Badge-in-a-Box kits. Available kits include, but are not limited to: Daisy Outdoor Art, Brownie Fling Flyer, Junior Gardening, Cadette Comic Artist, Senior Textile Artist and Ambassador Outdoor Art Master.
- Juliette’s Closet Virtual Troop Shopping Spree: One troop will be selected to receive a 15-minute virtual shopping spree and a $20 credit to spend on items for the upcoming troop year!
- Juliette’s Closet Mystery Bundle (a retail value of $30): An opportunity to earn some swag for your troop this year. The only thing that is not a mystery about this bundle is how much you and your troop will love it!
Troop Leaders, girls and families—there is still time to renew your Girl Scout membership before the new year starts! Visit www.gscm.org and access your membership record via MyGS or reach out to us at membercare@gscm.org for assistance.
Return to In-person Girl Scout Activities Guidelines
On Friday, August 21, GSCM shared Back to In-Person Girl Scout Activities guidelines, a readiness checklist, and updated/new forms via email to all volunteers and on the GSCM Volunteer Resource webpage.
We want to ensure that all our volunteers have received, read and understand these guidelines. Troop/Group Leaders and Service Unit Volunteers must verify receipt and acknowledgement of these guidelines. Please confirm receipt via this link. Volunteers will be asked to state their name, troop number, service unit number, and acknowledge that they have received, read, understand and will abide by these interim COVID-19 guidelines.
Please share the guidelines with your troop/group families. After reviewing the information, should you have questions, email us at membercare@gscm.org
GSCM Camp Site Use for 2020-2021 Troop Meetings
Starting today, September 15, 2020, a select number of camp site units at all four GSCM camps are available for GSCM troops, who are registered for the new membership year (October 2020-September 2021), to reserve for the purpose of holding troop meetings. At this time, priority is being giving to troops; service units are encouraged to continue meeting virtually.
Below is a reservation link for each of our four camps. By clicking on the link for the camp that your troop is interested in, you will have access to the schedule of available sites, dates, and times. Select the site/date/time your troop is interested in meeting.
Only one troop per one spot is being granted in order to give as many troops as possible the opportunity to meet at camp. Each troop is entitled to one meeting location per month recurring at the same time of day (e.g. every first Monday of the month at 5:30 PM). After reservations are received and checked for availability, troop leaders will receive a confirmation email, along with a site user agreement and guidelines.
Please email membercare@gscm.org if after a reservation is granted your troop no longer needs the reserved site so that other troops will have the opportunity to reserve an open spot.
Questions? Email membercare@gscm.org
GSCM Virtual Troop Leaders Needed
We are seeking enthusiastic adults and older girls/troops (Cadettes-Ambassadors)* to lead our GSCM Virtual Troops. We want to organize five virtual troops for girls who are looking to participate in a fully virtually troop experience and/or who may be having difficulty finding an active virtual troop in their local area. We will host Daisy, Brownie, Junior, Cadette, and Senior/Ambassador troops. Through the virtual troop experience, Girl Scouts will meet every other week to engage in fun, interactive Girl Scout activities.
The GSCM Virtual Troops will begin in October, with meetings occurring every other week for a period of one (1) hour. These virtual troops will accept members all year long.
If you or someone you know may be interested, please contact us at membercare@gscm.org for more details and to discuss your interest.
*Older Girl Scouts can earn a leadership award such as the Service to Girl Scouting Community Bar. This opportunity may also be a potential Silver Award Project for a small group of girls or an individual girl. Contact us to learn more!
GSUSA Zoom Account Request for Troop and Service Unit Leadership
We are delighted to share that in partnership with GSUSA, Girl Scouts of Central Maryland is offering an opportunity for troop and service unit leadership to request a GSUSA Zoom account at a heavily discounted price of $36 a year. Please note that pricing beyond the 2020- 2021 membership year is yet to be determined by GSUSA/Zoom.
Below are details you need to know to sign-up for an account; the complete list of FAQ’s can be found in the Volunteer Toolkit (VTK). Once the troop or service unit leadership’s GSUSA Zoom account is set-up, the account user will receive a user agreement and FAQ sheet.
Account User: The GSUSA Zoom account can only be used for Girl Scouts programs. The account holder must be active in one of the following leadership roles: Troop Leader, Co-Leader, Troop Cookie Manager, Service Unit Manager, Service Unit Co-Manager, Service Unit Cookie Manager, Service Unit Booth Sales Coordinator and New Leader Orientation Coordinator. The volunteer completing the form must be the account holder, as the applicant will be the person accepting the terms of the GSUSA Zoom user agreement.
Application Process: Submit your request and payment via this link. Once a request is received, the GSCM team will verify that the volunteer is an approved volunteer for 2020-2021 and then submit the request to GSUSA who will allot us the license. Please allow 5-7 business days for this process.
Important Note about Account Set-up: Generic accounts for troops and service units cannot be created, as not to violate the GSUSA License Agreement with Zoom. A licensed user is considered a single living human. Zoom verifies users by ensuring that each account is tied to a real, non-generic email address. Zoom also requires that the username and password for volunteer’s accounts not be shared with anyone beyond the designated account holder.
Account Email: If a volunteer has another existing Zoom account, they are unable to use the email address tied to that account to create a GSUSA Zoom account. In this case, a volunteer will need to provide a different email address on the GSUSA Zoom account request form.
Account Features and Capability: Please note that this account is a sub-account under the global GSUSA Enterprise account. One can host up to 500 participants for each meeting. Features include a participant waiting room, breakout room, chat, polling, annotation, white board, meeting reactions and screen sharing functions. Certain features and settings are locked and can’t be changed. For example, host and participant videos are turned off until the meeting starts, the waiting room is mandatory, and a password is required to join meetings
Parent/Guardian Permission: Per the GSUSA Zoom user agreement, it is required that troop leadership obtain parent/guardian permission for their Girl Scouts to participate in meetings/activities hosted through the GSUSA Zoom account. Troops should use the GSCM Parent/Guardian Permission for Girl Scout Activities, Events, and Trips form, and list the activity on the form as “Troop xxxxx Virtual Meeting(s)” and have parents/guardians sign the form. Troop Leaders will retain the forms for their records.
Contact membercare@gscm.org with any questions.
Uniform Day
Celebrate Girl Scout spirit and show your Girl Scout pride on Thursday, October 1, 2020 as part of Girl Scouts of Central Maryland’s Uniform Day! Girl Scouts are encouraged to wear their uniform whether participating in school in-person or virtually. Girl Scouts should have their parent/caregiver submit their photo by 11:59 PM Monday, October 5, 2020 to receive a Uniform Day Participation Patch. Access to the photo submission form will be available starting at 12:01 AM on Thursday, October 1, 2020 and will close for submissions at 11:59 PM on Monday, October 5, 2020.
Who: Girl Scout Daisies through Ambassadors who are currently registered members of Girl Scouts of Central Maryland as of October 1, 2020.
To receive a participation patch: Parents/Caregivers please upload your Girl Scout’s Uniform Day photo by the Monday, October 5, 2020 11:59 PM deadline. If submitting for more than one Girl Scout, please complete separate forms to limit confusion and ensure each girl receives her patch. If parents/caregivers are unable to upload their Girl Scout’s photo, a troop leader may do so on behalf of the parent/caregiver, however, troop leaders cannot grant permission for the Girl Scout’s photo to be used in GSCM publications/social media. Patches will be given to troop leaders at their January 2021 service unit meeting for distribution to participating girls in their troop/group.
IMPORTANT: While your Girl Scout would normally wear her uniform while participating in school, if your Girl Scout is participating in a virtual school experience, please do NOT submit screenshots of a Girl Scout with her classmates. Many times children’s names are listed on their on-line video and additionally, students in the Girl Scout’s class/school, are not members of Girl Scouts and we do not have their permission to take/share their photos. Please only send a photo of your Girl Scout wearing her uniform. For example, if your Girl Scout is participating in virtual school, you might submit a photo of your Girl Scout wearing her uniform at her school work station getting ready to log-in to her class or taking a break to from school work to log-in to Smart Cookies for this first day of the Cookie Program Sale! Another example may be to take a photo of your Girl Scout outdoors on a break from school (or before/after classes).
Questions: Contact us at membercare@gscm.org
Share Your Girl Scouts Love State Parks Experience!
We hope that you and your Girl Scout enjoyed participating in some engaging programs during GSLSP weekend. We would love to hear how you engaged with local and/or other state parks. Please use this link, to share your experiences workbooks and photos. When uploading the Harriet Tubman workbook, please be sure to include a copy of the front cover of the workbook and the portions of the workbook that your Girl Scout completed. You will have until September 30, 2020 to submit your workbook(s) and photos.
Badges will be available for pick-up at Juliette’s Closet or Clementine’s Corner during curbside pick-up hours, after October 1st. You may also request that the badges be shipped to you for $2.00 shipping and handling. Thank you again for participating in GSLSP. We hope to see you again next year!
Store Updates
New Girl Scouts Uniform
Be one of the first to order the new Girl Scout uniforms. The store is now taking preorders for these trendy new uniforms. Email your order today at gscmstore@gscm.org
Facebook Girl Scout Shop Social
Join us for these Girl Scout Shop events:
- September 15th 5:30pm Juliette’s Closet Markdown Bonanza.
- October 15th at 5:30PM for our (pre) Halloween and Juliette Low Birthday celebration.
GSCM Program Patch of the Month
The “My Family Loves Girl Scouting” Patch Packet helps families become more aware and involved in their daughter’s Girl Scout experience. For more details, click here.
VTK Updates
A reminder that the 2019-2020 Finance Report will be archived on 9/30. Don’t forget to check the Resource Tab for all the new forms for your troop this year.
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Girl Scouts of Central Maryland 