gsni donors make a difference

“Thank You to all of the donors who responded to our 2012-2013 Impact Report in November and December 2013. It costs GSNI approximately $250 to support each Girl Scout. Your generous donations at the end of the year provided this support to almost 100 girls in Northern Illinois!”

GSNI Donors Make A Difference!

Elgin Service Center12N124 Coombs RoadElgin, IL 60124847-741-5521

Freeport Service Center5040 Bus. Rt. 20 WestFreeport, IL 61032 815-235-8777 or 800-925-3327

Girl Scout Express 200 Applebee StreetBarrington, IL 60010847-620-5043

Rock Falls Service Center229 First Avenue, Suite 1Rock Falls, IL 61071815-997-5100

Rockford Service Center2820 McFarland Road Rockford, IL 61107815-962-5591 or 800-242-5591

Sugar Grove Service Center 200 New Bond StreetSugar Grove, IL 60554630-897-1565

Non-ProfitUS Postage

PAIDFox Valley, IL Permit 313

1st Edition, February 2014

Your Contributions Make an Impact!Welcome to your first issue of GSNI Donors Make a Difference, our brand new bi-annual newsletter to show our donors how much we appreciate their contributions. Your yearly donations have an enormous impact on Girl Scouts throughout northern Illinois. Because of your support, we are able to offer new and exciting program opportunities to girls, ensure that every girl has a qualified and trained adult mentor, and support each girl’s journey toward developing courage, confidence, and character. We hope you enjoy reading these stories about how YOU make a difference in the lives of girls.

What’s New at GSNI • Our new Chief Executive Officer, Fiona Cummings,

began her new role on September 29, 2013.

• We opened a new Service Center and Store in Rock Falls, Illinois on February 7, 2014.

• Camp Dean will be getting interpretive signage and a new greenhouse for native plant management in Summer 2014, thanks to a grant from the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley!

• We offered our first Cookie CEO Challenge on Facebook in January.

www.girlscoutsni.org

“It is exciting to be part of an organization

that emphasizes the support of young women as

tomorrow’s leaders.”—Adult Volunteer

Crystal K., Nicole F., and Lexi R.

When Robin Kopec was a Brownie making forts out

of Girl Scout Cookie boxes that inundated her “Cookie Mom’s” house, she never knew that Girl Scouts would impact her life for years to come. Growing from a Daisy to a Cadette, Robin most enjoyed activities that were fun and connected her to the community, such as participating in the St. Charles Holiday Parade. Other interests took Robin away from Girl Scouts for a while in middle school, but as we know, Girl Scouts really stays in your life forever.

As a graphic design college student, Robin was challenged to find an internship to practice her skills. At the urging of her mom, Robin approached GSNI and was invited to work with the organization on the Centennial Celebration in 2012.

Robin’s dedication to Girl Scouts and her background in graphic design helped achieve her goal of designing a piece that boldly showed our beginnings and honored the long history of Girl Scouts. More importantly, her internship gave her insight into real-world design challenges.

“There is nothing worse than jumping into something with both feet, only to find out a week or two later that you went in the wrong direction and have to start all over!” Robin exclaimed. As a matter of fact, the Girl Scout pieces in her portfolio greatly impacted the hiring manager at her first professional interview and she was hired immediately. Visibly touched, the hiring manager was quick to ask Robin about her involvement with Girl Scouts. It turned out the hiring manager was herself a Girl Scout alumnae, as well as a troop mom for her daughter. Because of her connection and commitment to Girl Scouts, and the alumnae connection we all feel when we are with our sisters in Scouting, that hiring manager knew Robin would be a great addition to the company.

“Team work and a desire to help others are two huge facets of my job,” Robin remarks. “My experience as a Girl Scout grew those strengths and characteristics that I apply to my personal and professional life. While our marketing group is only three strong, I work heavily with my team and the sales team in planning and designing pieces for a variety of customers. Sometimes projects can be challenging, or I am balancing multiple projects simultaneously.

Because I want to help meet a need or solve a problem I will put in the extra hours to finish the projects on time and meet their needs.”

Robin’s mom, Linda, a former “Cookie Mom” encouraged Robin to stay connected to what Girl Scouts stands for. She also noted that she wanted her Girl Scout to “Never be afraid to give.” You will always feel the impact.

Community ServiceThe Girl Scout mission is to “build girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.” Service projects performed by Girl Scouts are an integral part of the Girl Scout experience. Throughout the Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois Council, girls are doing a variety of projects that not only make the world a better place today, but in the future as well. A few examples include:

• Junior Troop 5071 from Sterling held an event to help Happy Trails Animal Shelter. The girls gave tours of the shelter, led attendees in making a toy for the animals of

the shelter, and provided information and hands on experiences showing other Girl Scouts how they could volunteer at Happy Trails.

• Cadette Girl Scout, Brooke W. from Huntley, initiated an anti-bullying project. She and a fellow Girl Scout, Katelyn T. created an informative video and presented it to approximately 200 fifth-grade students at Leggee Elementary School in Huntley.

Students were able to ask questions afterwards and gather useful information. The presentations were so well received that the girls were invited back to share the anti-bullying message with next year’s fifth-grade class.

• To share their love of camping and encourage other girls to try it, Junior Girl Scouts of Troop 5066 from Morrison, held a Camping 101 workshop for all of the girls in their community. They taught prospective campers how to tie various knots, build a fire, make s’mores in a solar box oven and make a “sit-upon.” After sampling some camp activities, Troop 5066 hopes the girls who attended will want to go to camp in the future.

Through these projects, girls learn to identify community needs, become problem solvers, advocate for themselves and others, educate and inspire others to act, and feel empowered to truly make a difference in the world. Support from our donors allows GSNI to provide the Girl Scout Leadership experience that inspires girls to conduct these service projects and countless others throughout the region.

NASA Workshop at Mary Ann Beebe CenterGirl Scout Cadettes came together at the Mary Ann Beebe Center to learn about and put into action the engineering design process. Girls worked in groups to design a carrier to transport a marble down a zip line, then stop and release the marble onto the target. This required the girls to draw their design, build it, test it and redesign, rebuild and retest!

They also designed and built a landing craft to protect their astronauts (marshmallows) as they fell from a height of 5 feet. They took what they learned to new heights as they designed a shuttle and parachute system to protect their payload, an egg, as it was dropped from the bridge tower at Mary Ann Beebe Center!

This program was funded in part by the National Space Grant Foundation and a contribution from Danfoss.

Once a Girl Scout, always a Girl Scout

Troop 5071, Sterling

“My favorite activity was the egg-dropping activity because it used a lot of knowledge that we had gained over the course of the day.” —Rose (A Girl Scout Participant)

Brooke