Meeting Activities:
Cookie Program — writing and practicing a pitch
Philanthropist badge — exploring needs and wants, and deciding what organization to support with cookie program earnings.
Comments:
Girls worked on their cookie businesses by writing and practicing their sales pitches. Girls are encouraged to use these to record videos for their Digital Cookie sites.
We also started work on the Philanthropist badge. We discussed and played a fun game about needs versus wants. We learned about organizations providing services in the basic needs categories of food, water, shelter, clothing, and safety.
The girls voted to donate money to the safety program, Project Elevate, which is dedicated to providing women leaving prison a safe and nurturing place to restart their lives.
Activities:
Since many girls haven’t done the cookie program before, we worked on a cookie sales pitch sheet.
As a reminder, boxes donated to the Hometown Heroes program will be distributed to Denver Language School teachers and administrators during Teacher Appreciation Week in May. Troop cookie profits will be used to fund excursions like our upcoming trips to the Denver Aquarium and Tomahawk Ranch. Additionally, girls decided to be philanthropists by giving 10% of their proceeds to charity.
Encourage your girl to practice her pitch and record it on video for her Digital Cookie site. Sites with a video and a brief but compelling story sell more cookies!
Philanthropist
We started work on the Philanthropist badge by discussing the basic survival needs of food, water, clothing, shelter, and safety.
These resonated for the girls as they recently did the Denver Zoo Animal Academy. As keepers, they had to problem-solve the survival needs of various types of animals through their lifecycles.
More contentious was the Needs vs. Wants Card Game. In teams, girls flipped a card from a stack and placed it into a NEED pile and a WANT pile. We had to create a third TO DISCUSS pile for those cards they couldn’t agree on collectively.
Peanut butter made its way into the TO DISCUSS pile. Some just don’t like peanut butter. So they didn’t consider it life-saving food and therefore a need. Additionally, there were some girls who absolutely could not live without a notebook and pencil. This catalyzed an active debate about whether education is a need or a want, especially since it is compulsory in the U.S. Shocking to the girls, education is a want.
We then discussed organizations that serve those in the Denver community struggling with basic needs such as:
Food — Denver Botanic Garden Food Programs and Food Bank of the Rockies
Water — Denver Water
Clothing — Goodwill
Shelter — Colorado Coalition for the Homeless
Safety — Denver Department of Safety’s Project Elevate
I asked girls to stretch their empathy muscles and think about what it means to be insecure in these areas:
Did they ever go hungry, maybe ate one or two meals instead of three in a day?
Did they need to travel far to get water or boil unsafe water coming out of the taps?
Were they cold during the winter because they could not afford a good winter coat?
Were they ever worried about losing their home or where they would sleep at night?
Did they live in a home or neighborhood that was violent, have friends or family who committed crimes?
We discussed the work of these charitable organizations and watched this video about the Denver Botanic Garden’s urban food initiatives.
Girls then voted on the organization they wished to support with troop cookie program proceeds.
After the first round, it was a tie between water and safety. The second round went overwhelmingly to safety, Project Elevate.
I think that Project Elevate may have won because it hits a lot of what we discussed. It is focused on assisting women who come out of prison and likely don’t have a safe and supportive home or neighborhood to go back to. Project Elevate helps with immediate physical needs like food, water, clothing, and shelter. It also supports participants with counseling and social services to find longer-term solutions.
I reached out to the Executive Director of The Empowerment Program, Inc., the nonprofit that partners with the City of Denver on the program. She is thrilled that the girls wish to learn more about their work and will support the program through their cookie sales.
Our next meeting on Sunday, February 5 will be held at their offices. The troop will tour the facility and do reflection activities about safety and what that means to them.
What do we need to feel safe?
What do we need to feel safe as a community?
To bring it all to life and have something to take home, they will do a Me Tree art project.
Badge Requirements:
Philanthropist
1. Learn what every person needs. We discussed basic survival needs of food, water, clothing, shelter, and safety. Girls played a Needs vs. Wants game.
2. Investigate how to help people who are hungry. We watched a video about the Denver Botanic Garden’s Urban Food Initiative and talked about what a food bank does.
3. Find out how to help people who need clothing. We talked about cleaning out our closets and giving clothes that don’t fit to an organization like Goodwill, which has a drop-off location nearby on 6th Avenue. Many girls wear second-hand uniforms donated to the Denver Language School PTO, which sells them at highly discounted prices. Some girls donated old winter coats to the latest PTO coat drive.
5. Think—and act!—like a philanthropist. Girls learned about five charities serving the local Denver community and selected Project Elevate to support with their Time (learning more about the program), Talent (talking to cookie customers about the program), and Treasure (donating 10% of cookie program proceeds).
Family Follow-Up:
Announcements:
I’m thrilled to announce that Boulevard One’s Girl Scout Experience Center—to be renamed the DreamLab—will be opening in mid-March!
GSCO leadership would like a troop in the neighborhood to help with pre-launch press relations. They’ve invited us to a tour of the facility with a journalist who will interview a scout and film the troop exploring the space.
Please RSVP on TeamSnap for the tour and filming on Friday, February 17.
If your scout is interested in doing the interview, which will require a prep call and practice, send me an email or text.
Please RSVP on TeamSnap for the grand opening on Saturday, March 12.
Cookie Distribution
Saturday, February 4 is Cookie Pickup Day!
Michelle is looking for volunteers to help get our troop’s boxes from the pickup location and bring them to the storage unit where they will also need to be verified, i.e., checked for damage and counted.
Thank you to Mimi, Carrie, Lynne, and Mary Ellen for volunteering. If anyone else can help, send Michelle an email or text.
Upcoming Troop Meetings:
Please RSVP on TeamSnap. Links are provided below!
SUN 2/5: Cookie Distribution + Philanthropist
Note the meeting location is The Empowerment Program offices at Colfax and York.
Empty out your cars because you will be taking cookies home!
SUN 2/19: World Thinking Day or Global Action Award — This is a holiday weekend. I would love to know now how many families are traveling or in town, which will determine if we hold a meeting or make this curriculum optional home study. Please RSVP!
SUN 3/5: Excursion to Denver Aquarium + Wonders of Water Journey
Will need the final headcount by March 3.
FRI 3/17-SUN 3/19: Camp Tomahawk + World of Girls Journey
Need a final headcount ASAP as seeking to secure dining services.
Thanks!
Meredith (Mila’s Mom)