Studies show that girls are disproportionally affected by the increasing mental health crisis in America and new National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) data shows nearly 90% of parents are now prioritizing their child’s mental health over academic achievement, yet teachers are tapped, and therapists have patient waitlists up to a yearlong. The Girl Scouts Mental Wellness Initiative aims to equip our youth and their caregivers with the tools needed to support their own mental wellness and proactively practice self-care. In the past three years, in response to the national mental health crisis, Girl Scouts has released mental wellness programming and training, including: Girls Speak Out About Mental Health Report (2020), Resilient. Ready. Strong. (2021), and started offering training for adult volunteers in Mental Wellness 101 & Delivering Inclusive Programs through gsLearn, and Youth Mental Health First Aid (2022) to support leaders identifying potential issues, helping foster skills and behaviors that lead to better well-being, and preparing older Girl Scouts with the tools to help friends and classmates in appropriate ways. Now, in 2023, we are expanding our mental wellness program with the introduction of three mental wellness patches made possible by HCA Healthcare Foundation and developed in partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI): Knowing My Emotions, Finding My Voice, and Showing Up For Me and You mental wellness patches designed for girls from grades 4 through 12 [Juniors to Ambassadors]. You can download troop facilitator guides and receive a free download of Mental Wellness activities. Detailed activities and meeting guides are also available in the Volunteer Toolkit in myGS. Girl Scouts of Colorado has increased focus on mental wellness over the past several years through our Sisterhood of Support series of programming. The November Sisterhood of Support retreat is sold-out but additional retreats are being planned. International Day of the Girl activities planned on Oct. 11 at Girl Scout DreamLab, 63 N. Quebec St., will focus on resiliency and give girls the opportunity to earn the International Day of the Girl patch.

There are so many great benefits to participating in the Fall Product Program -- but don't take it from us -- see why other troops across Colorado are having great success with selling this year's new Fall Product! And then sign your troop up before the program ends on Oct. 23! Meet Troop Fall Product Manager, Chris. Chris' troop is not even a year old yet and their troop has already done a stellar job selling Fall Product this year! Chris shared with us why he signed his troop up to participate in the Fall Product Program. What do you enjoy about the Fall Product Program? For us, the Fall Product Program adds a sense of ease to fundraising and teaching the girls about money's relation to our society. At their age, money is arbitrary and all they know is that you use it to buy things. Until they started working for that money, then deciding how to spend that money on both necessities for the troop and fun activities like camping and going to festivals. What do you think about the new product additions (Bark Box*, Tumblers)? The new Bark Box has been popular, especially in our community of dog lovers! I ordered one for my dog Fenway who is our troop's unofficial dog Daisy. The tumblers have proved to be popular as well, they seem to sell easier since they are the well-known brand of Tervis. How does selling Fall Products help your troop? The reason we like the Fall Program is the same as how it helps our troop. The organized fundraising for younger girls is much easier than troop initiated and organized fundraising methods. What's some advice you'd give to a troop that's considering selling Fall Products? Try it out. You will be surprised how many people are willing to support these cute, ambitious, and driven young ladies while getting some easy gifts for friends and relatives at the same time. The worst that happens is you create some cool troop avatars and have conversations about money and business with our young future leaders. Still not convinced? Meet Troop Fall Product Manager, Hanna, and you won't want to miss out! What do you enjoy about the Fall Product Program? I love that the Fall Product Program has a lot of great holiday gift options and ideas. It's at the perfect time of year when everyone is starting to think about the upcoming holidays and provides an option for them to buy a product as a gift, that also supports a great cause. What do you think about the new product additions (Bark Box*, Tumblers)? Our troop has been obsessed with the new product additions. Colorado is a dog-loving state and there are a lot of great opportunities to sell the Bark Box to our community. The Tervis Tumblers are made so cute and are a great quality! Who doesn't need a new tumbler for their beverage of choice? They have so many options to choose from and as mentioned above, they make a GREAT gift for the holidays or birthdays! You can find a tumbler for anyone on your list! How does selling Fall Products help your troop? The Fall Product Program allows our Girl Scouts an opportunity to raise money for the beginning of the Girl Scout Year. This allows us to get new supplies for our troop and plan a fun adventure for the fall and winter months. It is great to have a money-earning activity in the fall so we aren't waiting until cookie season to fund our Troop. What's some advice you'd give to a troop that's considering selling Fall Products? Do it! It is so easy to get the program and sites set up. There is no inventory to manage until it's time for delivery on the Girl Delivered Orders and it is a great opportunity to earn troop funds! They have cute patches and prizes for the girls and the best patch of all is a personalized patch that you can only earn by participating in Fall Product! Make sure to sign your troop up for the Fall Product Program before the end of the sale on Oct 23 to not miss out on all the amazing benefits. *Bark Boxes are now in their second production run and while still available for purchase, are expected to be shipped out in February 2024.

WEDCO, an entrepreneurial and financial empowerment initiative, stands as the world’s largest platform dedicated to celebrating, supporting, and empowering women entrepreneurs worldwide. Organized by Sylvia Scott, the WED Colorado ambassador and founder of Girl's CEO Connection, the WEDCO summit is set to take place on Nov. 10, at the Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship. This promising event will feature a lineup of speakers representing both Gen Z entrepreneurs and seasoned business leaders. Through panels, breakout sessions, workshops, and keynote speakers, participants will gain insights into a diverse range of professional development topics. Some of our highly anticipated speakers are: Tish and Snooky, co-founders of Tish and Snooky’s® Manic Panic ®NYC Diane Myles, CEO of Dope Mom Life, a comprehensive production firm dedicated to narrating uplifting human stories from an inclusive perspective Olivia Omega, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications, Denver Scholarship Foundation Kerry Ben-Joseph, owner of LikeCake.co & Kay Bee Jay, LLC Gabbie Carr, Teen Founder and Owner, Gracefully Gabbie and Gabbie’s Graceful Gifts During the networking session, attendees will have the unique opportunity to engage in one-on-one conversations with accomplished CEOs, financial advisors, artists, and more. This summit will be extremely beneficial for Girl Scouts in attendance, providing them with invaluable connections and opening doors to numerous opportunities. At this remarkable event, attendees can expect to be inspired, learn, and network, fostering growth and empowerment in the entrepreneurial landscape. Learn more and sign up here: https://www.girlscoutsofcolorado.org/en/sf-events-repository/2023/women-s-entrepreneurship-day---denver.html

Congratulations to: Hayden Horowitz, Bailey Eglseder, and Emily Moy of Troop 65878 for earning the Junior Girl Scout Bronze Award. These Girl Scouts found not enough was being done for new parents and decided to compile self-care kits to donate to new parents at risk for postpartum depression. These Girl Scouts went door to door to solicit donations from local businesses and created a video to solicit donations from individuals in the community. With the donations they received, they were able to make 25 self-care kits with journals, coloring books, pens, colored pencils, candles, skincare masks, nail polish, travel cups, bath bombs, stress balls, chapstick, lotion, and wrote/drew cards of inspiration/motivation. The Girl Scouts then researched postpartum depression and made an educational brochure to distribute in the kits, with information on how to care for postpartum depression at home and when/where to get professional help. In addition, as students at Global Village Academy Douglas County, a language immersion school, each of these Girl Scouts have become fluent in a second language - Spanish, French, Mandarin - during their six years of schooling at Global Village Academy Douglas County. Each of these Girl Scouts translated their educational brochure on postpartum depression into their language of study to include in the kits: Hayden - French, Bailey - Spanish, Emily - Mandarin The self-care kits were donated to a maternal resource room at Centura Parker Adventist Hospital.

All GSCO Girl Scout volunteers and staff are invited to join the GSCO Global Action Team at one of our five WAGGGS World Centers, Nuestra Cabaña near Mexico City. We are putting together an informal event to re-invigorate interest in Nuestra Cabaña World Centre and Global Girl Scouting. Our GSCO group will be among the FIRST 200 people visiting this World Centre since the re-opening. The program will include both a taste of World Center programming and facilitated GSCO Global Girl Scouting discussion and planning for future World Center trips for older girls and adults. This gathering is for adult volunteers and staff over 18 years, and mother-adult-daughter pairs are welcome. Choose to come just for these five days, come earlier for the Friends of Nuestra Cabana event(s), or stay later for the World Thinking Day event. Travel and Center fees (food/lodging) are each participant’s responsibility. Read more and complete the interest form by October 5th. https://www.notion.so/sarah-johnson/Nuestra-Caba-a-2023-GSCO-16dd7dfd245e4246b25d2432f1302afc?pvs=4 For questions email sarah@wildroseeducation.com

Why I chose the project- I have been volunteering with kids with special needs since I've been in 7th grade. This project had a personal connection with sensory processing skills and working with kids of all abilities. How this impacted me- Completing my Gold Award project challenged me to be a leader not only to my peers but also being able to manage adults. It helped me with my time management skills by balancing my senior year, getting ready for college, soccer practice and having a job. What Girls Scouts means to me- I have been with my same troop since kindergarten, even though I moved further away I stayed with my troop. The girls in my troop have been a constant friendship and sisterhood through a lot of changes in my life.

Troops 72418 and 73010 are excited to present two opportunities to earn the Space Science badges for Juniors and Brownies. The Junior event is Sunday, Oct 1 from 9 - 10:30 a.m. or 10 - 11:30 a.m. at the Fiske Planetarium in Boulder. It includes stations to meet all requirements, Ball Aerospace volunteers, and the show in the planetarium. Spots are filling fast, so sign up soon! Register for the Junior Space Science events. The Brownie event is Friday, Nov 3 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. It includes dinner, CU Women of Aerospace volunteers, and all requirements including looking through telescopes. More details are in the Cheddar Up link. Register for the Brownie Space Science event. We look forward to seeing Girl Scouts at both of these events!

Girl Scouts from Parker and Aurora participated in citizen science and American Kestrel conservation. This small falcon needs our conservation efforts because their populations have been declining since the 1960s. A group of Girl Scouts learned more about the threats to Kestrels as they watched the "banding" of four nestlings. Banding involves placing a band with a unique number on the bird's leg. If recaptured, we can learn more about how far the bird has traveled, how old they are, and if they nest in the same area each year. The Girl Scouts were citizen scientists as they helped record data from the nest box and submit it to the international database. Placing and monitoring American Kestrel nest boxes is a great idea for a Gold Award Project!

This past summer, four Brownies from multi-level Troop 65659 completed the World of Girls journey. They looked at library books, dressed up as their favorite characters, and found clues. After they selected stories about resilience, their troop leader contacted music therapists and found Mallory Connors of Music with Mallory. Mallory recorded a special message just for the Brownies to use for their virtual special presentation on resilience. They learned about what kids can do when struggling with big problems and demonstrated those skills, then posted their special program online. They received some feedback from families online who watched the 17-minute show: “I loved seeing cool kids doing lots of cool things, and sharing great advice, in their masks! Thanks for setting a great example.” -Megan E. “This was wonderful! The kiddos did a great job. I love their reminders that when going through a struggle, remember that it is temporary.” -Robin P. “This means a lot. Going through a struggle can be hard. It can feel final at times. But there are ways to ease the feeling, cope, overcome or distract. All these wonderful ideas the troop gives are excellent ways to help. I hope you keep helping people, as you are doing a lot of good here.” -Chris H. “I liked the tips about if it is a problem to work around them and make memories in the meantime. I also liked the tip reminding you the problem is temporary (which is sometimes hard to remember in the moment of that problem).” -Erin Y. The Brownies had a lot of fun making their photo exhibit about what they accomplished, making a quilt that showed their special talents, and using different kinds of art to express their feelings. They wrapped up their journey with a frozen yogurt outing to celebrate.

Over the summer, multi-level Troop 65659’s five Cadettes completed the Breathe Journey together. They conducted their air observation at Edwards Animal Rescue in Parker where they helped muck stalls and met friendly llamas, goats, and chickens. After going over their observations and voting on their top issues, the Cadettes went on another trip to Wings Over the Rockies to participate in science exhibits and talk to air experts. Knowing they wanted to focus on water biology and crayfish, they went down to South Platte Park and Carson Nature Center in Littleton on the advice of Skot Latona, Park Manager and Certified Interpretive Guide and Trainer. Skot told the Cadettes where to look for algae and explained what caused it, and what the consequences were for aquatic life there. They went on a hike to view the algae. On a second visit to the Nature Center, the Cadettes recorded a skit with a Cadette playing the “mascot” of the project in a crayfish costume. While four Cadettes were working on the skit, the fifth was creating a poster that displayed basic facts and a QR code that linked to the skit video. The poster showed lines from action choices to days of the week and asked people to vote for their favorite day of “Runoff Week.” The Cadette drew artwork that the troop leader printed on sticker paper, to engage viewers by offering them a free sticker for voting. With Skot’s permission, the poster was displayed at the nature center for a week and the stickers were available at the front desk. Eighteen votes were cast. The five Girl Scouts wrote heartfelt notes to the Juniors of the troop to inspire them and the notes were delivered with photo collages of the adventures of the Journey. To celebrate, the Cadettes met at Lakeside Amusement Park where they felt the wind in their faces on every ride.

Since 2002, the Songbirds Girl Scout Choir has been keeping singing traditions alive, learning old and new songs, performing at many different events, and even launching girls into careers in music or the arts. My name is Penny Roberts, and I’m the director of the Songbirds.  I live in Estes Park, and I’m writing today to invite any and all girls, adults, families and friends to join the fun and adventure that keeps us “Singing After All These Years.”  (That was the theme of the 2012 National Sing-Along on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.  Almost 250,000 gathered to sing together, a truly momentous occasion.) My email address is probertscolo@gmail.comand my phone numbers are 970 586 1775 and 970 473 1001.  Please contact me at any time! Since the hiatus that was Covid, the Songbirds are rebuilding their ranks, and that is the reason for my Blog Post today.  Here are several options, offerings and ideas for how to spread the music across GSCO. I probably would need to stay mostly on the Front Range, but I am open to travel if I have advance notice.  I will also recruit other Songbirds to join me and help your groups get going. #1)  Our regular rehearsals are on the 2ndSaturday of every month from September through April.  We meet at the Berthoud Elementary School on Bunyan Avenue from 10 a.m. till noon.  I will provide song books, games books, and can even teach a guitar class at 9 a.m., with a book to go along with that.  There is no registration, no fee.  All are welcome. We also have royal blue polo shirts to wear for performances, and we always look great! This year’s first gathering will be Saturday, September 9th, time and place as listed above. #2)  I could come to your troop for a sing-along.  My schedule is pretty flexible, but as it gets to be winter, I’d prefer to travel during the daytime.  We can easily sing for an hour or moreand have a great time! #3)  I could come to your service unit meeting, hopefully with a larger group to sing with, including girls, leaders, family members. #4)  I could arrange for an even larger regional sing-along, maybe on a weekend day.  Northern Colorado and the Denver Metro Area might be the best locations for this, and I’d probably need help arranging a singing space. #5)  GSCO has a wonderful History Center and Museum located in Loveland, and they have created a historical songbook collection and program, which we could use as a backdrop for an event, which could include a tour of their new museum space. So, please spread the word and join us.  Singing in Girl Scouting is traditional, educational, and most of all fun!!  It ties us to the entire world through official Girl Scout world songs, campfire songs, lullabies, graces, rounds and more.  Hope to hear from you soon.

What is a Leadership Summit? It is a daylong free* event for Girl Scout volunteers to take a variety of enrichment classes and essential required training. As well as meet and connect with your peers, enjoy a catered lunch, swap extra Girl Scout supplies, and start your troop year with the information you need to be successful! This year will feature a few training opportunities exclusive to our Leadership Summits, such as Troop Travel, Fundraising and Event Planning for Troops/Service Units, and Recruitment for Troops and Service Units. We’ll also have classic training and enrichment like American Red Cross Adult and Pediatric First Aid & CPR/AED, Songs and Games, Ceremonies and Traditions, Finding the Global in Girl Scouting, Highest Awards Roundtables, and more. Register for any Leadership Summit here. Sat. 8/26 – Metro Denver 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at CSU Spur Sat. 9/23 – Frisco 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at Frisco Senior Center Sat. 9/30 – Colorado Springs 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at Doherty High School Sat. 10/7 – Loveland 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at The Ranch Complex Sat. 10/14 – Denver Region 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Location to be announced. Sat. 10/21 – Grand Junction 9 a.m. -4 p.m. at Redlands United Methodist Church Sun. 10/22 – Durango 9 a.m. -4 p.m. at La Plata County Fairgrounds Sat. 11/4 – Pueblo 9 a.m. -4 p.m. at El Pueblo History Museum Please share this flyer with your fellow Girl Scout volunteers and Service Units! *American Red Cross Adult and Pediatric First Aid & CPR/AED is $30 for a two-year certification.