swanctroutreach1troop 3821 swanctroutreach2 troop 3821 Submitted by Cricket Hawkins Top of the World Summit Troop 3821 chose Swan Center Outreach as their Hometown Hero this year.  They recently visited the horse rescue and proudly donated a check for $356.28 plus 13 boxes of cookies to the center.  What a fabulous experience for the girls! #HometownHeroes #SummitCounty #swancenterrescue

Girls from Eagle Valley Troop 1727 helped with the Eagle Community Clean-up Day in April. #communityservice #EagleValley

Girl Scouts of Colorado (GSCO) is moving the focus of retail merchandise sales to our online shop as we close all physical stores as of June 6, 2013, except for the corporate headquarters location. Our organization is working hard to reduce operational expenses so we can focus our resources on serving our membership. The volume of customer traffic and sales in the shops outside of our headquarters is low and the costs of staffing and maintaining inventory on the floor is high; so the best use of our resources is to provide merchandise online and improve our online services. We are excited to launch a new online store by June 15. GSCO will offer our customers great savings through a liquidation sale through June 6 at our shop locations in Colorado Springs, Fort Collins and Grand Junction. In addition to an improved online shopping experience, GSCO pIans to offer mobile shops in each of these locations several times per year in conjunction with major events, etc. In more savings for customers, during July 2013, we will offer free shipping on any phone orders placed through the corporate headquarters location. Please call 303-607-4837 #councilshop #onlinestore #retail

Are you ready to learn basic canoeing and water safety skills? How about how to paddle a canoe so it goes where you want it to go? Me too! Come join other girls as we begin to explore canoeing! Date: July 12, 2013 Location: TBD (working on Connected Lakes in the GJ Area) Time: 7:30 Sign in, READY to go at 8:00 am  Finish at Noon. Minimum: 25 girls Max: 70 Girls Ages: Brownies and up (No Daisy GS, per Safety Activity Checkpoints) Cost $25/girl plus GSUSA registration if not a currently registered GS. Must wear closed toed shoes, water shoes are fine.  No flip flops or open toed sandals. Bring a water bottle with your name on it! A snack will be provided. To Register, Contact: Virginia Brown (970) 628-8009 Safety Activity Checkpoint reference: http://www.girlscoutsofcolorado.org/assets/upload/files/Canoeing_Safety_Activity_Checkpoints_2011.pdf #Brownies #Canoe #Juniors

Howdy to all older Girl Scouts! We have room in our camp sessions for this upcoming summer! We have room in our Rocks and Ropes session as well as some of our other outdoor high adventure back packing sessions. Come spend week rock climbing and get away from the climbing wall!  Come climb in nature as intended and see amazing views of the continental divide and sit at top of the world where eagles soar. . . #highadventure #summercamp #MeadownMountainRanch #teencamps #teens #GirlScouts #rockclimbing

This week’s “Because of Girl Scout Camp” Entry is from Ash, who is our Art Program Director at Magic Sky Ranch! Sometimes it’s hard to tell who gets more out of camp…the campers or the staff and volunteers! Cliff Lake As we came over that final dirt covered hill, our excitement began to build. I hadn’t been back to the crystal blue Cliff Lake in a whole year, and the anticipation was killing me. I was a Counselor-in-Training (CIT) at Magic Sky Ranch the summer before my junior year in high school. My unit was filled with girls who loved camping and nature, so I was excited to show them the lake. I hoped that the graham cracker beaches hadn’t changed, and that I could still stick my feet in the pockets of warmth hidden in the sand. Thankfully it was as beautiful as I could remember. Its stone cold cliff raised high above the lake and left a stunning reflection on the surface of the water. It dwarfed the evergreen trees standing next to it like an army of soldiers preparing to protect their peace of utopia. I knew I was back, and I never wanted to leave again. We walked along it perfect shore until we came to a water-stained bridge that seemed as if it had been there since the beginning of time. It looked as if it was made of the same wood that protected the lake from all the elements, unfortunately the army of evergreens did not protect its wooden counterpart. We had to go across one-by-one in fear that the bridge might break loose of its screws and fall into the flawless water below. Once every girl had crossed the lake safely, we continued on a small one person path of earth that lead to the bronzed beaches I had longed for. We hopped across the limestone boulders to the center of the lake where the counselors and I pulled out the art supplies so the girls could draw whatever they desired in this slice of perfection. They dumped out the crayola crayons, and unexpectedly they rolled into the lake. Flashes of candy apple red, periwinkle, granny smith apple, and other crazily named crayons reflected in the water stained sand below. I knew that it would be my job to retrieve them. That was our jobs as CIT’s, we needed to protect out girls, and I wanted to make sure that none of their first memories of Cliff Lake were bad. I removed my digital watch, and thrust my hand into the sparkling water. A frosty chill crept up my arm, and a shiver ran through my body. The crayons were a great deal deeper then I thought they would be. It felt like it would take me an eternity to fetch the crayons from the bottom of the flawless lake.I thrust my hand deeper, and deeper, and deeper into the water until I felt my fingers wrap around the crayons. I jerked my hand up in a sharp, speedy movement until I could no longer feel the stabbing chill of the icy water against my arm. I opened my hand and the brown sand leaked from my palm as if it had never belonged there in the first place, leaving only the crazily named crayons behind. I put the crayons back in the box and closed it up while I instructed the girls to only take one crayon out of the box at a time. I hopped backed to the beaches, took my shoes off and plunged my feet into the sunburned sand I had longed for. The pocket of warmth heated my toes up to a toasty temperature. I sat basking in the warmth of my personal slice of perfection, dreaming of other moments in time as perfect as this one. #GirlScoutsoftheUSA #MagicSkyRanch #WaterResources #Ash #Water #evergreen #Recreation #environment #CounselorinTraining #Business #Scouts #camp #Crayon #Lake

At Girl Scout Camp, we know we touch the lives of many girls! Because of Girl Scout Camp, your Girl Scout can look forward to enjoying her summer in nature and cultivating life long friends! #Becauseofcamp

[slideshow] Submitted by Rebecca Schmidt Rock of Ages Lutheran Church Troop 40969 is a multi-troop and has been going through the It’s Your Planet Journey series in all levels from Daisy to Senior. We selected a Community Garden to tie all of the Journeys together. The Daisies started seedlings and assisted with the planting at the garden. The Brownies worked the plan for watering the garden by collecting recycled hoses and plastic bottles. The Juniors built a compost bin for the garden area. The Cadettes worked a garden protection plan. This was from weather hazards as well as animals. Lastly, the Seniors studied and started composting and then worked to get donations for the compost bin. All the girls were involved with plants and will continue to participate in the care of the garden. The proceeds of the garden will go to families in need. This story was submitted via the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too.: #garden #ItsYourPlanetJourney #multileveltroop

Girl Scouts of Colorado thanks you for a great cookie season. Girl Scouts in Colorado, with the support of their leaders, families and friends, sold 4.19 million packages of Girl Scout Cookies this season! Congratulations to the girls for their success and to the volunteers for guiding girls to discover the 5 Essential Skills: goal-setting, decision-making, money management, people skills and business ethics. The total sale was down about 5 percent from last year, however there were about 6 percent fewer selling girls, so the per girl average actually increased. The top seller in the state, Madison Walker of Arvada, sold 4,200 packages of cookies! Fifteen girls sold 2,500 packages of cookies or more across the state. Last year, only seven girls reached that goal. This year, girls earned $245,000 in Cookie Credits to pay for camp, events, travel, Girl Scout merchandise and more. As a team, parents, volunteers and staff improved inventory management procedures, which helped to reduce the amount of cookies remaining at the end of the sale by more than half. Thank you for working hard to manage your inventory and meet return deadlines. We’re looking forward to another great year in 2014. After 17 years of service to Girl Scouts in Colorado, Dorothy Gregory, former Vice President of Product Sales, has retired. Her product sales leadership has been instrumental in funding the Girl Scout Leadership Experience for generations of girls in Colorado — a priceless contribution! Angel Haxton is the new statewide product sales team leader for Girl Scouts of Colorado. And check out these great cookie sales pitches done by our 2013 cookie sellers! These girls are learning a lot of business skills through the Girl Scout Cookie Program! http://youtu.be/G1zMqXnqinM (Colorado Springs, #3810) http://youtu.be/1YZXloU-R7U (Denver #51435) http://youtu.be/d8GO7shx0cY (Denver #52316) http://youtu.be/H1PwS1JXYp8 (Aspen, #53919) http://youtu.be/s8ZmFBwDb24 (Parker #61292) http://youtu.be/q4aQb_mwQSs (Denver #51058) #GirlScoutCookies #GirlScouts #GirlScoutsofColorado

Submitted by Erin Sonnenberg Colorado Springs Great Harvest Bread Company opened their doors and ovens to Brownie Troop 4000 on Saturday, May 4th in Colorado Springs. The owners, Ainley and Mark, walked us step by step through the entire bread-making process, from grinding wheat all the way to warm, toasty bread, fresh from the oven. The girls each made their own “designer” rolls, bunnies, horses and flowers seemed to be the favorites. Parents, leaders and girls all voted Great Harvest Bread Company our favorite field trip! This story was submitted via the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #fieldtrip #ColoradoSprings #Brownies #Troop4000 #GreatHarvestBreadCompany

[slideshow] Submitted by Christina Bontempo Denver Kindergarten and 1st Grade Daisies made lunch for the residents of the Ronald McDonald House in Denver on Saturday, May 11. The girls chose RMH as their service action project and used funds raised by cookie sales to purchase lunch items. They made sandwiches and served fresh fruit and learned about the families who can stay at RMH for free while their children are in area hospitals. This story was submitted via the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #communityservice #Daisies #Denver #RonaldMcDonaldHouse

[slideshow] Submitted by Tina Saunders Westminster Kids Against Hunger Junior girls from Troop 2569 in Westminster packaged food to help feed children in places like Haiti, Uganda, South Africa and Syria. We started doing this about three years ago and every year the girls continue to want to go and give back. They love doing it so much that they don’t even realize that they are there for 2 hours. If you would like to learn how you can help please go to www.wefeedfamilies.org. It says that they are in Erie, but their packing facility is moving to the Westminster/Broomfield area very soon. This story was submitted via the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #communityservice #Troop2569 #Westminster