Welcome to August scouting families. While you are looking forward to the start of a new School year I am starting to look a little farther towards the start of a new Scout Year on October 1st.
Over the next few months we will be working on adding events to the calendar. If there is a badge you’d like to plan or event you’d like to organize please reach out to the Service Unit Team and we will help you get it on the events calendar. You can also attend Service Unit meetings and pitch your idea there. We are open to new ideas and activities. There are a over 250 girls currently registered as part of Service Unit 416 so if you see an interest in it there will probably be other girls interested in it also.
Join us for the Service Unit’s Annual Bridging/Investiture/Rededication ceremony at Orchard Park on September 8th (5pm-6:30pm). Please register ahead of time so we know how many people to expect.
This event will celebrate three traditional Girl Scout ceremonies in one event.
Bridging ceremonies mark a girl’s move from one level of Girl Scouting to another.
Investiture welcomes new members—girls and adults—into the Girl Scout family for the first time.
Rededication ceremonies are an opportunity for girls and adults to renew their commitment to the Girl Scout Promise and Law.
The Golden Pond Academy for Witches is now accepting applications to the Wonderful Wizarding World Weekend to be hosted by Troop 40065.
This very magical fall camporee will take place September 20th – 22nd at Camp Golden Pond. Girls of all level are encouraged to attend either for day only or an overnight. During our tenure at the academy we will be able to take classes in Potion Making, Care of Magical Creatures, Wand Making, and Defense Against the Dark Arts (archery).
Early registration ends on August 18th so be sure to put your application in before all spots are taken!
The 2019 Recycled Regatta at the camp is also coming up on August 24th. Several Girl Scouts troops from Service Unit 416 and our friends in SU 422 have put in registrations and plan to compete. Below, you can watch our fearless canoeing instructor testing out the Friends of Golden Pond Board’s boat. We encourage everyone to support our fellow sister scouts as they Use Resources Wisely and show off their engineering skills.
Last year we almost lost Camp Golden Pond for good. Friends of Golden Pond got our beloved camp back for us and is working hard to keep it. But they need our help. Camp Golden Pond can no longer simply be an idea that we like. It has to be something that we actively support.
Our event feedback surveys and attendance records for the camps we hosted at Camp Anderson and Black Mo tell us that our members vastly prefer Camp Golden Pond.
If we want to hold our spring camp at Camp Golden Pond, we need to show up for events at the camp. We need our members to support the camp financially. We need our troops to support the camp with service.
If we fail to support the camp, we will lose it for good. This is our second chance. There will not be a third.
Friends of Golden Pond Secretary Joan Geleskie testing a boat.
Your service unit is run by a team of dedicated volunteers and we could use your help! Specifically we are looking for some volunteers to help with the following roles:
Fall Product Liaison. This person will help organize the Fall Product sales (nuts/candy/magazines) for our Service Unit. Liaisons will receive support from both the Service Unit and Council.
Service Unit Treasurer’s Assistant. We need a responsible and organized individual to commit to spending a couple hours each month helping us keep our books up to date. Responsibilities include recording all income and expenses, making sure things like our camp rental fees get paid, and ensuring everyone gets properly reimbursed.
Service Unit Communications Officer’s Assistant. While Megan loves ghost writing for the Service Unit, her ability to commit time to the task has become greatly reduced. We need a literate individual willing to write 1-3 updates for the service unit newsletter each month. This person (or people) does NOT need to be a registered or cleared member of GSHPA – just a parent (or older girl) willing to write about what we do each month and what we are planning on doing next month.
Contact us if you can help with any of these roles!
